A Beautiful Lie
by Hopeless Alchemist
Summary: "You'll never belong, but let's see you try." It was at that moment that things started to go downhill. I had friends, family, and a crush. I never could have imagined what would happen next. I was whisked away to this other world where the people I've run into are lookalikes of those I care about. I want to go home, but my only hope lies in this guy who looks like Eric... Ed/OCxOC
1. Chapter 1

It's hard to remember, but I'm pretty sure the real start of it all was that night eleven years ago.

I had just woken up in a large white room. There were people in the room, all of them speaking some language I didn't understand. Every now and then I would catch bits and pieces of what they were saying, but none of it ever seemed to make sense.

It was when I was finally free to leave that white room that things started to clear up; I was assumed to be an abandoned orphan, yet another child left to die on her own. I must've been one of the lucky ones. One that was given a second chance at a life that had just begun.

The first memory I have is of waking up in that white room. People say I was traumatized to the point where it was easier for my mind to reject the reality of what had happened. I don't believe this for a second, but my past doesn't seem to matter anymore. I was adopted by a woman overseas in America, and that's where my life so far started. Now I'm here, running for my life and wondering how it was that fiction could give way into reality.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. To really understand, I need to start from a few weeks ago.

* * *

(Spring 2014)

Staring at my bumpy dry wall ceiling was proving to be a pointless time waster. The previous summer I'd made it my goal to count every last lump, but after reaching about 3000 I gave up.

I rolled over onto my side and closed my eyes as I waited for the alarm clock to go off. One of them opened and glanced at the glowing LED screen. It was only 4:22. It was about an hour before I was supposed to get up, but the dreams kept me awake again.

With a sigh, I pulled the comforter over my head and I tucked my knees to my chest. The soft fleece of my PJ bottoms seemed to give off a sense of comfort that then spread throughout my body. My eyes closed and I was able to relax, the visions calming down with my mind.

It wasn't that these were nightmares; there was nothing scary about them, in fact. It was the uncertainty and the feeling of great distance that left me sitting on my bed uneasily. Ever since my fifteenth birthday I'd been having these dream-visions, but I hadn't told anyone. Not even my mom. Always they included a foreign city with people that looked eerily like the people I'd always cared about and even the people I didn't care for. They spoke a language that I'd never heard before, yet I could understand it almost fluently. Moments before I'd wake up I'd hear a voice, closer than all the others, whisper in my ear. "_You will never belong here."_

My eyes stayed shut as I thought over the dream-vision. The beeps of my alarm interrupted my thoughts and it became apparent that I'd fallen asleep again.

_Dammit_, I thought as I pushed off my covers.

"Reeva!" I heard my mom call from down stairs. "Time to get up!"

Letting out a loud yawn, I swung my legs over the side and let my head hang. Copper tinted blonde hair brushed against the back of my neck and hung slightly in my face, the crop cut hair tickling my skin. I ran a hand through it, marveling at how my hair could be so soft.

_Now I'm grateful I let Nicki cut my hair,_ I thought as I shimmied out of the PJ bottoms, trading them for a pair of jeans with holes and pen drawings scattered sporadically on the legs. My mom had stopped caring about the state of my clothes when I started doing my own laundry. I strapped on my bra and slipped on one of my dark grey tees. A pair of dark purple high-tops and the hoodie I'd modified with cat ears completed my outfit for the day.

I hopped down the stairs and met my mom in the dining room.

"Maybe I should start getting you up earlier," she commented.

I rolled my eyes before smiling at her. She shook her head at me, but I knew she was smiling on the inside.

"I'll be fine mom, I've got plenty of time to get to school," I assured her.

Nodding again, she handed me a plate loaded with bacon and scrambled-all-to-hell eggs. She used a whisk once they were in the pan to get them to a state of ultra-fluffiness. It was something that could always be used to make me happy.

After enjoying my breakfast, I kissed my mom on the cheek and got my backpack from the living room couch before starting down the sidewalk.

I went next door to get Kaya. She was already sitting outside on her porch.

"You coming?" I asked her with a smile.

She looked up and met my gaze with a grin. "Hehe, yup," she said. Her long brown hair was pulled back into a braid that swung back and forth with each step she took.

"So did you finish the homework?" I asked her as we crossed the street and got onto the sidewalk that led to our school.

The sigh that followed gave me an answer to this question. "No," she grumbled.

My eyes narrowed into a glare before I shook my head. I was turning into Pushy Reeves, but I wanted my friend to do well. Unfortunately for me, I often ended up sounding like my mom.

"I could always go over to your place and make sure you get it done."

Kaya let her shoulders slump forward. "No, you don't have to do that," she said before explaining herself. "I was skyping with Nellie last night and lost track of time."

I rolled my eyes at my bisexual best friend. "If I have to tell off your girlfriend I'll do it," I threatened.

Her eyes grew wide and she reeled back slightly. "No way in hell!" she protested loudly.

"Then stop wasting time!" I yelled back. "Even if the second semester just started, your GPA sucks so badly you have to bring your grades up!"

"Hey now," she started in an offended tone. "A 2.5 isn't all that bad."

"You had a 3.75 last year," I stated, causing her to stiffen. "You managed to go down that far in just one semester."

"That's not fair," she argued. "That was freshman year. That's always easier."

I rolled my eyes at her again before smacking the back of her head. She stumbled forward a couple feet and turned around to glare at me.

Smiling, I offered her my hand, which she happily took. I always knew how to please her.

Kaya and I went to your usual cookie-cutter high school. Nothing at all was special about it. Well, except for one thing…

We sat down at our usual table outside of the cafeteria while we waited for the first bell to ring and for our other friends to arrive.

The first ones to show up were Eric and Max. They both had blonde hair, but Eric (the elder brother) wore it longer and in a braid. Why? I'd never asked. As for Max, his hair was clean cut short. They both had brown eyes so light they looked almost gold. The two were born in Germany, but shortly afterwards they moved to our little town with their dad. I'd never met the man, which was weird considering the number of times I'd been over to their place with the others.

After them came Nellie, Kaya's girlfriend and the only other official member of the group. Her skin was tanned and she had dark brown hair. She and Kaya had been together since the beginning of sophomore year, even though I'd caught Kaya sneaking looks at various guys that happened to pass by.

The two girls gave each other hugs and sat next to each other. Afterwards, Eric helped Nellie with chemistry homework while Max and Kaya talked about some book that they'd read. The unofficial member, my junior friend Nicki, stopped by the table briefly to give me my hug before heading for the rest of her group.

The day was starting out as usual. I looked over my group of close friends before reaching into the front pouch of my backpack for a black sharpie.

I pulled my leg up on the seat with me and tapped my knee with the marker, contemplating what I could draw next. This pair of jeans was starting to run out of regular space and the only real place for me to doodle was on my butt. I couldn't exactly do anything there while sitting or while in front of two guys, no matter how close we were, so I decided to draw a vine going down my leg.

I pulled off the cap and started the line at the rim of my pocket. From there it travelled down, weaving in between and around the rest of the drawings. Once the line was done, I went back and added leaves and little flower buds. It took me about ten minutes before I was interrupted by the ringing of the first bell, signaling the students to start heading to their classes.

Eric waited for me to get my stuff while the others went off to their first classes. I gave him a smile once my bag was on my back and we started for Algebra II.

Unfortunately for the two of us, the classroom was on the fourth floor. Neither of us said anything the whole way up. Eight flights of stairs could really wear a person out, and by the time we were sitting down we were both sweating. We exchanged glances and smiled at each other. I'd never admit it, but those smiles were what made me start to fall for him. Whether or not the feeling was mutual was another question I wasn't going to ask him. Not yet anyway.

The remainder of the day up until my fourth, and luckily last, class was insignificantly dull. It was the same as the rest of my semester had been; only slightly different material.

This is the something special. My fourth period class was Creative Writing with my currently favorite teacher, Mr. Herman. His hair was short and black and he wore thin framed glasses that made him look older, even though he was only about 30 or so. On his desk were pictures of him, his wife, and their daughter. Everyone knew that when he brought out new pictures, it was best to run as far away as possible.

I was still in the hallway when the last tardy bell rang.

"Dammit," I swore before I started running. My teacher was standing in the doorway, his arms folded over his chest and his eyes narrowed at me.

"You're late Reeva," he said, glaring at me as I took my seat. "Next time it happens it's in-school-suspension."

I nodded as if I cared, knowing full well that his threats were as empty as my mom's.

Once everyone was settled down, Mr. Herman came up to the front white board to give us our newest writing prompt.

"Okay guys," he started. "I've given it some thought and I've come to the conclusion of what your Final assignment will be."

My eyes travelled upwards towards him while I forced my notebook out of my bag.

Mr. Herman turned around and uncapped the dry-erase marker. On the board he wrote P-A-R-A-L-L-E-L W-O-R-L-D-S in big letters. I pulled my pencil out of the spiral and wrote down our new topic.

"I'm giving you guys the ultimate challenge. I want you to write about a world or worlds that you've created. Because it's a parallel world there should be significant differences between that one and our world. What are the people like? How do they act? What's the planet itself like? You have a lot of room to go on with a topic this vague, so I'm anticipating some excellent work." He recapped the marker. "Oh wait, I almost forgot to tell you! The student that does the best on this assignment will have his or her piece published in the local paper."

My eyes grew wide at this statement, the mere thought of possibly getting published motivating me.

"I'll give you the first half of class to brainstorm, then after that we're back on normal schedule." My teacher left us all to converse with one another.

My notebook had various ideas scribbled on it by the time that Mr. Herman stepped back up to the front.

"This story will be due at the end of the semester and will count towards your Final grade," he said, erasing what he'd written on the board. "Put what you have done so far away. We've got more work to do."

I didn't pay much attention to Mr. Herman as he carried on with the lesson. Among the incomprehensible scribbles was one idea I'd written in big, blocky letters; MAGIC. Of course I didn't know exactly how I wanted to incorporate magic into another world. There had to be something behind the magic that made sense as to why it worked, not just 'wave a magic wand and something floats.' I didn't want to come up with cheesy spells either, nor did I want to call them wizards. The whole thing had become stereotypical of a story that takes place on a different world, and I was barely able to keep myself from pulling my hair out from frustration.

_Gah! _I thought as I put my hands up to my head, trying to stay as casual as normal while Mr. Herman talked. _This is going to end up killing me! A magic that makes sense? It's magic because it doesn't make sense! What am I thinking trying to do a topic like this!?_

I ran my hands through my choppy hair and sighed quietly before bringing my feet up to the bars under my desk. _Just do something else Reeves. It can't be that hard to think of something?_

The thoughts that were supposed to reassure me did nothing to help. I glanced down at the scribbles. My hand writing was so bad I couldn't even read my ideas. Giving up, I pushed my notebook aside and closed my eyes. Soon I was at the halfway point between sleep and awake.

* * *

A loud yawn escaped my lips as I walked down the street, this time joined by the brothers. Nellie and Kaya had gone to the Café to finish a project and despite how tired I was I wasn't in the mood for coffee.

"Did you sleep at all last night?" Eric asked me.

I glanced up at him and sighed. "Kinda, sorta…" My words were cut off by a second yawn. "I woke up earlier than normal because of a… dream." It was the easiest way to describe what it was.

"You mean like a nightmare?" Max asked me.

My gaze traveled down and I shook my head. "No, not really, but it does creep me out a bit. It's always in this big city with old fashioned buildings, kinda like the historical district of the capital. And everywhere I look there are familiar faces. I've seen you guys and the others, but you're different."

Eric frowned. "What did you mean by always?"

I blinked at him, unsure of what he meant. "Hm?"

"You said always a second ago, so does that mean you've dreamt this before?" he pried.

His golden eyes seemed to stare into my soul and I was forced to answer my friend.

"You win!" I said with my hands up, surrendering to stop his insistent glaring. With another sigh I resumed. "Okay, you've caught me. I've been having this same dream almost every night since my birthday."

"Reeves!" Max nearly shouted, something that had never happened before. The only time he raised his voice was when Eric was being an idiot, and I was slightly taken aback with his reaction. His tone went back to normal as he continued. "Why didn't you say something sooner? Your birthday was nearly five months ago."

I looked away. A guilty feeling found its way into my heart and my chest got tight. I straightened the straps of my backpack and swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat.

"I'm sorry," I apologized. "But it's not as there's ever been that good of a time to have brought it up, and it's not that bad. I mean… It's just sleep. I can get that during English." I smiled slightly, trying to brighten up the mood. It didn't seem to be working.

We walked the last few blocks to their house in silence. My chest got tighter when Max went into the house first, leaving me with Eric.

My head stayed down, my lengthy bangs covering the right side of my face. When it was the two of us we would usually stay quiet, neither of us sure about what to say.

"Uh, Reeva?" he started, causing me to look up. My close friends rarely called me Reeva. Reeves was the nickname that I had grown accustomed to, and my real name was used by adults or people I didn't like.

Eric wasn't looking at me. His hands were in the pockets of his hoodie, and his focus was somewhere distant.

"Yeah?" I asked him.

He nervously met my gaze before rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. He sighed. "Look, I'm sorry about overreacting back there. It's just that I don't like feeling useless."

I laughed lightly at him and offered him a smile. "It's fine dude. You guys' being quiet messed with my head more than anything I could dream up."

He returned the smile and lowered his hand. "Careful there. You might jinx yourself."

"Tch," I scoffed with a half-smile. "Don't worry; I think I can handle it." I paused as I thought. "Okay. How about this? If I need help with anything, you'll be the one I turn to."

I felt my face get warm, but I probably wasn't even pink. I refused to let him see me blush.

Eric returned my smile. "Sure," he said. "So, I'll see you at school tomorrow?"

"Yeah, okay," I said with a nod.

He nodded and started down his driveway, leaving me to walk home the rest of the way by myself.

My phone vibrated in my pocket as I tossed my back pack on the couch. I sighed.

_It's either Mom or Kaya, _I thought as I fished the small phone out of my pants.

I furrowed my eyebrows at the picture that was sent to me from an unknown number. It was a picture of what looked like a pentagram, only about ten times more complex. It was drawn on the ground in what I assumed was chalk. My eyes grew wide when I read what was beneath the picture.

-You will never belong, but let's see you try.-

A quiet squeak escaped my lips as I dropped my phone. It fell to the floor with a hard slap, but I knew it wasn't broken. I stared at it, wondering who the hell was texting me.

The screen lit up and the phone vibrated across the floor, sounding with a buzz while I squeaked again. Swallowing my fear, I dared to look at what this second message said.

-Don't be scared. Think of it as a puzzle, and you're an extra piece that doesn't fit. I'm curious to know why you exist. So go on. Draw the circle and you'll see.-

At this point I was close to shaking. Nervousness started to take over as I crouched down and picked my phone back up.

-Who are you and how do you know so much about me? - I typed before clicking send.

The response was almost immediate. –You don't need to know that just yet. Just draw the circle. Your fate will be determined from there.-

I was scared. Honestly and truly scared. _Is this a dream? Did I fall asleep during fourth period and I'm just imagining all of this?_

-Go on- the next message read.

My whole body was trembling at this point. I stuffed my phone into my pocket and ran out the door.

_I told him he'd be the one I turn to. I hope I can do this._

I ran as fast as I could to Eric's house down the street a few blocks. Barely even tired, I began pounding on the door.

"I got it!" I heard Max call from inside. His face was confused when he saw me. "Reeves? Are you okay?"

"I need to talk to Eric," I said, not answering his question.

He nodded slightly, keeping an eye on me.

"Hey Brother!" he called out, still not looking away.

"What!?" I heard Eric shout from the other room.

"Reeva's here! Says she needs to talk to you!"

Footsteps sounded as he came into the hallway. His face shifted from curious to confused in a matter of seconds.

"Is everything okay?" he asked while Max left.

Not sure how to answer, I grabbed his wrist and pulled him out the door, closing it once he was out next to me.

"Reeves, are you okay?" he repeated.

I was still shaking from earlier and now my legs were trembling from my run. I held up a hand, as if to ask for a moment, as I back up into the railing on his porch. I was breathing heavily and the look on Eric's face had shifted from confused to concerned.

He reached out to me and gripped my shoulders gently, as if I was fragile. "Hey," he said in a calm tone. "What's going on?"

My hand reached up and pushed his hands from my shoulders. I swallowed and reached into my pocket. My fingers scrolled through the previous messages until they reached the picture of the circle.

"Someone sent me this," I said, handing him the cell phone. His brows furrowed as he took it. After a few seconds, he looked back at me. His mouth opened to speak but I cut him off.

"In the dream I told you about there's always this one part that always causes me to wake up. It's a voice in the background saying I will never belong there. I don't know what that means, but apparently this guy does."

Eric shook his head and he handed me my phone. "Are you actually going to do what he wants?" he questioned.

My brain froze as it processed this. I hadn't thought about what would come next, all I knew was that I didn't want to be the only one knowing about this.

The phone buzzed in my hand, distracting me. Eric stepped around to read the message that had just come in.

-I know you want to know. Know about eleven years ago. Know who and what you are. You're dying to know, so go ahead. Just draw the circle and you'll know.-

The shaking came back as a million questions swam through my already cluttered mind. Eric put a hand on my shoulder to try and calm me down. I heard him sigh and turned to meet his gaze.

"Come one. Let's go to the garage," he said. "I'll help you draw it."

Nodding slightly, I followed him.

In a random spot was a box of sidewalk chalk that I hadn't seen since we were kids. I opened it up and pulled out two fat, white sticks of chalk. I handed one to Eric and watched as he drew a large circle in the middle of the room. I set my phone in the middle so that we could both start working on the complex lines. It took about ten minutes, but eventually it was done.

I stared at it for a few seconds. "So what now?" I thought out loud. As if on cue, my phone buzzed again. I stepped forward into the circle and paused, as if waiting for something to happen, before reaching down and picking it up.

-There's something missing. A special ingredient. Do you know what it is?-

My brows furrowed at this and it buzzed once more.

-I guess not. Blood. Specifically, your blood. That's the last thing needed to complete this.-

Eric noticed my wide eyed expression and stepped around to read over my shoulder.

"Reeves, don't even think about it," he warned.

The grip I had on my phone tightened. I let my head hang slightly so my hair could block my face. Eric was too good at reading my expressions, and for good reason. We'd been friends for a number of years now.

Flashes of my first memories came to mind and then memories of the dreams. They had to be connected somehow, along with the text messages.

_Maybe whoever's sending me these messages is messing with my head, but a chance to understand what happened may never come again. I don't really want to have to get hurt for it, but lose some gain some I suppose. _

"I'm so sorry," I whispered. Eric backed up slightly at this. I didn't even give him a chance to speak as I turned towards the tools in the back of the garage. A clean nail sat there, as if waiting for me.

"Reeves, stop this!" he pleaded, eyes wide and full of hopelessness. "This isn't like you! Is it really worth it?"

I took the nail back to the circle with me. Gritting my teeth, I dug the point into the skin on my arm and watched as red dripped down onto the white chalk.

All of a sudden a red light started to shine brightly. I looked down, eyes wide, at the fact the chalk lines were glowing.

"Reeva!" a panicked voice called out. I looked up and saw Eric try and reach for me, a horrified look on his face. Unfortunately for him I was already fading.

* * *

"You made a pretty reckless choice back there? Was it worth it?"

"I don't know yet."

"And why not?"

"I'm not anywhere yet. It's just dark right now. But…"

"But what?"

"I'm trying to wrap my brain around the fact that I did that to him. I left him like that. The look on his face..."

"You mean your little friend? Do not worry. You'll be seeing him very soon."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"You'll just have to wait and see for yourself."

"I'm tired of waiting. What's happening anyway?"

"You're dreaming."

"Uh huh. Sure."

"Does this seem like reality to you?"

"… No, not really."

"Then there's your answer. But luckily the wait is over. It's time for you to wake up."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hello readers, to the second chapter of A Beautiful Lie. I didn't put any A/Ns in the last chapter, so I'll do this now. The idea for this came to me one night during my previous hiatus. I wanted to write an original story, but it turned into a fanfiction because the writing gods decided it would be better this way. I didn't write anything for about two weeks or so and the second I started the ideas and words didn't stop flowing. I have something of a beta (aka, a best friend that reads it and praises me... I'm trusting her judgment) giving me encouragement, so that's why I've been making sure it's at its best.**

**Without further explanation, carry on as you wish. Disclaimer: I own the OCs, original ideas, and nothing more. FMA in general belongs to it's respective owners.**

* * *

"It's time for you to wake up."

The voices started to fade from my mind. There was something deep inside of me that didn't want to know what they meant by 'time to wake up', but on the other hand I was curious to find out where I'd ended up. I was finally starting to regain the use of my senses and I was anxious to finally see where I was.

My eyes opened slightly, but closed from the unfamiliar amount of light.

_Damn, _I thought as I tested my limbs to make sure I was still intact. Arms? Yeah, they're there. How 'bout hands? They're there too. Good. Legs as well? Feet? Double check.

The sounds of a downtown district filled my ears; footsteps, simple conversations, and cars coming and going along the street. I dared to open my eyes again and now I could see my surroundings. I was in an alleyway, curled up against the wall. From what I could tell I was uninjured, save the still bleeding cut on my arm. The sleeve of my black hoodie had a darker stain on it that made me grimace. I rolled my sleeve up and cursed myself for cutting so deep. Shaking my head, I brought my arm to my mouth and began to suck on the cut. Disgusting? To be honest it was god-awful and tasted worse, but I was doing what I had to. The taste of liquid metal made me gag, but I continued until I couldn't taste it anymore. I examined the remains of cut and let out a pissed off sigh.

_I can't believe I made Eric see all that_, I thought as I pushed my sleeve back and let my arm fall to the ground._ The look in his eyes…_

I felt a vibration in my pocket and the rest of my senses became alert. I pushed myself up before cradling my head in my hands. There was a sharp pain in my skull that caused me to regret trying to move. I had no clue what had just happened. One minute there were a bunch of voices talking to me and it was pitch black. Now I was here in a city and it hurt to move.

_Where the hell am I anyway? _I thought before slowly standing up. It still hurt and I had to lean my hands against the wall to stabilize myself. The vibrations came back and I let one hand down to pull my phone out of my pocket.

-Step closer to the sidewalk- the newest message read. -You should recognize this place.-

My brows furrowed, but I was curious to know what he meant. I took careful steps over to the opening of the alley and my eyes grew wide with what I saw.

It was exactly like my dream. The buildings around me all looked old-fashioned, but in this place they seemed natural. The people were the same way, wearing clothes I'd only ever seen before in old pictures during my American History class.

_This place looks both ancient and new at the same time,_ I thought as I stepped out onto the sidewalk. _Where the hell did I end up anyway?_

I began to walk down the street of the foreign city while a million questions ran through my mind.

My phone vibrated again and I looked down to see what the person had sent to me this time.

-I would suggest not making a scene while you're in this part of the city. You already look suspicious to these people and if you give them reason to think you're dangerous then bringing you here will have been all for nothing.-

I scoffed at this. _Just my luck._ I tucked my phone back into my pocket and sighed.

The people around me stared with confused expressions, probably wondering who I was and why I was dressed so differently. A lump formed in my throat as my discomfort towards the situation grew. I swallowed it down and held my head low to let my hair cover my face. I would've put my hood on to hide myself from the stares, but seeing as I'd sewn cat ears on it I decided that I didn't need to draw any more attention to myself then necessary.

_This is so weird… It's like they've never seen anyone like me before. _

My phone vibrated again. I pulled it out with a huff and brushed my hair behind my ears so I could read the message.

-You will come off as very strange to these people. On this world girls never wear jeans, much less ones that have been drawn on. People don't own clothes with zippers on them either, so your jacket is attracting attention as well.-

My brows furrowed at the message. _I'm on a completely different world? Well I guess that explains things, but how far back in time is it? Zippers were used on clothes back in the 1930s on Earth, so I guess that means this world is even farther back if the timelines are similar. If not then I'm completely lost._

Yet another vibration pulled my attention back. -Correct. This world is approximately 100 years behind yours, meaning you are in the year 1914.-

I reeled back slightly in surprise_. How the hell is any of this possible? I came here to find out what happened to me, and now I'm told that I'm on a different world? It was easier to think that I had amnesia!_

-You do have amnesia. You've forgotten about everything happened before the day you turned four. I'm trying to help you remember at least some of that past. You want to know, don't you?-

My brain was on overload at this point and I really didn't want to have to try and deal with anything else. I stuffed my phone back in my pocket and ran my hands through my hair. After letting them fall I looked up and froze at what I saw.

The world came to a standstill as I looked with wide eyes at the figure in front of me. It was coming out of a building and my mind was having trouble processing what I was seeing.

"Oh my god…" I said quietly to myself. "How…?"

The figure turned around and I caught a glimpse of gold. The figure with gold hair in a braid and golden eyes that I could recognize from anywhere was standing less than fifty feet in front of me.

_How did Eric get here!? He should still be in the garage, right? _

I felt a vibration in my pocket, but I ignored it.

"Eric!" I shouted. He seemed to have heard me but didn't pay me any mind as he continued walking down the sidewalk towards me. Frustration was building inside me as I stormed over to him.

"What the hell?" I said, glaring at him. He finally looked up and met my gaze with confusion in his eyes. "Dude, why did you ignore me like that?"

His gold colored eyebrows furrowed. "Uh, I'm sorry?" he said, looking me over. "Who are you?"

My eyes grew wide at this. His words were like a knife in my heart.

"What do you mean?" I questioned, narrowing my eyes once again. "It's me, Reeva. We've been friends for years."

"Sorry, but I've never seen you before," he said. "You must have me confused with someone else."

I stared at him blankly, not convinced. "You've gotta be kidding me. That's impossible. There's no way I'd get you mixed up with anyone else. Blonde hair and eyes the same color? There are two people I know like that, and that's you and your brother." An idea came to mind and I pointed to a spot on my jeans. "Look here. E-E," I said. "You wrote your initials on these pants at the end of freshman year."

He looked down and his eyes grew wide. "… That's my handwriting, but I have no clue who the hell you are."

"Arg!" I groaned as I held my head in my hands. "Come on! You helped me draw the giant circle that brought me here!" Letting my hands down, I pulled my phone out and scrolled up to the picture of the circle. I turned it around and showed it to him. He furrowed his eyebrows at the picture and began to examine it. He didn't say anything as he looked it over.

Another idea came to mind and I tucked it back into my pocket. "Okay, fine. I'll prove that we're friends." The jagged scar on my hand came to mind and I grabbed his left wrist, knowing full well that his hand had a scar just like it. For some reason he was wearing gloves. I furrowed my brows as I tried to pull the glove off. He pulled his hand back when I did so.

"What the hell are you doing!?" he said as he reeled backwards away from me.

"I just told you!" I said as I reached for his hand. He took another step back and I growled at him. He glared at me and I clenched my fists. I took a deep breath and tried to regain my composure. "Please," I begged, looking at him with desperation. "Just let me see. If there's nothing there, then I'll go away."

His expression softened and I hated how I'd let my guard down, making it easy for him to read my expressions like an open book.

With a defeated sigh, he pulled off his glove and let me take his hand in mine. I held my hand up in comparison, expecting to see a scar across the back of his hand like the one on mine. Instead all I saw was clear skin.

The blood drained from my face, leaving me pale. I staggered backwards as I let his hand go, mine reaching up to cover my mouth in shock.

I let my head fall forwards as a cruel and harsh reality came crashing down on my shoulders. My hair hung in my face as I spoke. "I-I'm so sorry for bothering you," I stammered, my voice weak. I was left bleeding by the knife in my heart. It twisted and pulled out forcefully as he put the glove back on. "I… I'll go now."

I swallowed before running past him, not looking back for even a second.

_How stupid can I be!? Of course Eric wouldn't be here! He's probably back in the garage trying to figure out what the hell happened! God, I'm such an idiot! _I thought as I ran down the street, weaving around the people on the sidewalk as I tried to find a hiding spot. I looked up slightly to see who was watching me. When I didn't see anyone, I turned into an alley way and slumped against the wall of the building. It was when I buried my face into my knees that I realized I was crying.

A smile broke free as I wiped the salty water away from my cheeks. How long had it been since I was last like this? I hadn't cried in ages. I never had anything to make me sad. My friends always managed to make me feel better. But now they were gone…

My phone vibrated again and I frowned as I pulled it out of my pocket.

-I feel as if I should've warned you before this happened- it read. -Though you were already told you would see your friend soon. It wasn't your friend exactly, but a double.-

"What the hell is a double?" I grumbled. My answer came with the next message.

-A double is someone that takes on the same physical traits and characteristics as someone on your world. This world and your world are connected through some invisible force, meaning that the people on your world also exist on this world.-

My head cocked to the side in confusion as I sniffed the last of my tears away. "So it's possible for me to run into a double of any of my friends while I'm here?"

-Yes- the next message read. -Though it's unlikely for you to meet them all, you've already seen one and it is possible you'll see more.-

I pushed my hair behind my ears. "How about me? Will I run into my double?"

The response came back several seconds later. -No. That's impossible. You don't have a double and you never will. You are an unknown enemy to the force that connects these two worlds; you are completely original.-

My jaw fell open slightly in disbelief. It was as if I was living in the story prompt that Mr. Herman had given us.

_On the bright side, if/when I ever get back home I know what to write about_, I thought. _But what does he mean by enemy?_

Just as I was about to ask another question, I was cut off by someone that was standing at the opening of the alley.

"Hey," Eric's voice said. My chest got tight as I realized it was just the double again.

I put my phone back into my pocket and brushed my hair out of my face. "What do you want?" I asked, voice rough from crying.

"It's Reeva, right?" he asked as he stepped forward. I nodded as I shrank away, not sure if I could trust the double or not. "I was hoping I could ask you some questions."

My brows furrowed at him. "Questions about what?" I questioned him. I probably sounded bitter, but I didn't care anymore. I wanted to get back to talking to whoever was texting me about this whole double business.

He crouched down to my level and met my gaze. His gold eyes made my chest clench, and I buried my face in my knees again to make it stop. _Go away. Just leave me alone you creepy clone. You're not him…_

"That circle you showed me," he started, not caring that I wasn't looking at him. "I want to know where you got it and what you meant when you said it brought you here."

I moved my face from my knees and stared straight ahead at the opposite wall as I spoke. "Why should I tell you anything? I don't know who you are. All I know is that you look exactly like one of my best friends, and that's the only reason why I said anything about the circle. It was just me and him when it all happened, and unless he told his brother he's the only one that knows."

Something in the back of my mind told me that I was trying his patience. If he and Eric were anything alike then I knew that if a stranger pushed him too far he'd implode as if someone called him short.

I heard a sigh come from the double and I glanced at him from the corner of my eye.

"Okay, here. My name is Edward Elric," he said. I leaned back against the wall and met his gaze. "My brother's name is Alphonse." He pointed behind him at a person in a tall suit of armor.

"Uh, hi?" Max's voice said from inside the armor. I was slightly taken aback with this. If he was Max's double, then wouldn't they look similar? Last I knew Max only came to my nose. Even though the kid was in the middle of a growth spurt, I doubted that he'd have grown almost two feet in such a short period of time.

"You're really tall for a fourteen year old," I commented, craning my neck to look up at his armor head.

Edward raised an eyebrow at my remark. "How did you know how old he is?"

The world froze with this question. _Crap! Am I allowed to tell them about the whole worlds connected thing?_

I decided to leave that out of the conversation and continued on. "I, uh… You look just like my friend and his little brother is fourteen, so I just assumed that your brother was fourteen as well."

He nodded slowly, as if he didn't believe this answer but was going with it anyway. "Yeah, sure."

A nervous lump formed in my throat that was quickly pushed down as an idea came to mind. "Well this little meet-and-greet is over with. How about this? If you help me figure some stuff out, then when I'm done I'll show you the circle again. Deal?"

The two seemed to think this over. After a few seconds Edward turned back towards me and nodded. He held a hand out to me. "Deal," he said. I reached up and we shook on it.

I frowned as I squeezed his hand. It was too hard and felt cold through his glove and the amount of pressure I was putting into the shake didn't seem to faze him at all. A shimmer showed from under his black sleeve and my brows furrowed. I brought my other hand up to his sleeve and forced it upward. My eyes grew wide at what I saw. Edward snatched his arm away and looked at me with narrowed eyes.

"W-w-what is that!?" I exclaimed as I backed away from him a few feet, more than shocked by what I was seeing. "Y-y-your arm! W-w-why is it metal!?"

"It's automail," he said as he fixed his sleeve, his angry expression gradually shifting into surprise towards my obviously unexpected reaction.

"Auto what!?" My breathing was heavy from the sudden adrenaline rush telling me to get the hell out of there and soon I started rambling. "I-I-I don't understand. Your arm is made of metal. That's not possible. That _can't_ be possible. How is your arm metal?"

I held my head in my hands and shook it. "What kinda messed up world have I been thrown into?"

"Calm down," Edward said carefully in a gentle tone. "Have you never seen automail before?"

I shook my head again and I backed away slightly again, terrified of him. "What? No, I've never even heard of it before." I paused to take a breath and try to calm down. "What the hell is that?" I questioned once I had regained some of my composure.

"It's just a prosthetic limb," he explained to me as he flexed his arm and moved the fingers. "I was in a childhood accident and I lost my right arm and left leg, so now I have automail to replace them."

I blinked at him as my brain worked to process this. I reached out and took his arm, less afraid of the foreign object. Allowing me to do so, I carefully rolled his sleeve back again and looked over it. It was fascinating now that I wasn't as scared of it. It was so unfamiliar and the thought of having a metal hand was something I was unable to comprehend.

_A hundred years in the future and we still don't have technology like this._

A smiled crept up on my face as I let his arm go. "We sure are slacking off," I mumbled.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

Meeting his yet again confused expression, I sighed. "We don't have anything like that where I'm from."

His brows furrowed at this. "Where are you from?"

Automatically rejecting his question, I shook my head. "I'm not answering that. You'd think I'm beyond crazy, so can we move on?"

The forceful glare he gave me was a familiar one, and it sent chills down my spine. I refused to give in to these gold eyes.

"Please just come off it dude," I pleaded as I rested my forehead on my knees. "Seriously. Just help me out and I'll give you the goddamned circle."

I heard him sigh and looked up again. "Fine. I'll leave it alone for now, but I will want answers eventually."

Nodding, I smiled slightly, relieved I wouldn't have to go into too much detail just yet. A vibration in my pocket caused the smile to fade away.

_What now!? _I thought angrily as I fished it out.

-It's lucky that you're growing to trust these boys- it read. -They're able to access material that is restricted to average citizens.-

I raised an eyebrow at this as I pushed myself up. _What are you talking about?_

-The boy that looks like your friend is a State Alchemist; a high standing member of this country's military.-

"What the hell?" I muttered to myself.

"What's wrong?" Edward asked as he looked back at me.

I glanced up at him before pushing my hair behind my ears and continued to look down at the screen. _What's a State Alchemist? Last I knew alchemy died out during the dark ages. Why would the military need something like that? _I thought, knowing an answer would come soon from the other end of the line I was on.

The response came quickly. -Alchemy has taken a different route on this world, in a way you might not understand. For you I'll describe it as magic with scientific rules behind it. Funny. Isn't that what you wanted?-

This caught me off guard. _An ancient form of chemistry being magic!? Nothing on this world is making sense!_

-You may not realize it, but you preformed alchemy back with your friend. The circle was an array, the beginning structure needed to preform it. Your blood activated the array and you were sent here.-

"What is that thing anyway?" I heard Edward ask me. I snapped back into reality the moment I heard him. I looked down at my phone and my face paled again.

_God only knows what the hell I'm doing to corrupt this world's future._

"You wouldn't understand," I said. "It has to do with where I'm from, and I'm not going to get into that yet."

He narrowed his eyes at me before shaking his head. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was going to snap sooner rather than later if I pushed it.

"So… could you tell me about alchemy?" I said in an attempt to change the topic. He raised an eyebrow as I went on. "I've been told it's like magic."

"You don't know what alchemy is?" he asked, the confused look back on his face.

_Of course I do, but here it's different,_ I thought as my eyes narrowed slightly. "Not exactly. I know that it has something to do with chemistry, but I'm not sure how it works in this place." I paused. "Also, do you know where we are right now? Like, what country are we in?"

Edward stared blankly at me in a way that made me uncomfortable. "You've gotta be kidding me," he said. "You're this far in and you don't know that you're in Amestris."

"Amestris," I said, amused at how the foreign word felt on my tongue. The corners of my mouth twitched upwards. "That's weird."

"What's weirder is that you're speaking the language perfectly for someone that supposedly has never been here before," he said, folding his arms across his chest.

My eyebrow rose. _A different language? It sounds like English to me._

My phone vibrated again and I looked down at it again. -Amestrian and your country's English are almost exactly alike. That's because this part of the world is similar to Europe on your planet.-

I shook my head at this. _This day keeps getting weirder and weirder._

Finally putting the phone back in my pocket, I looked at the two and said, "So what did you mean by 'this far in'? What part of the country are we in?"

"We're in Central City right now," Edward answered. "Meaning you're in the center of the country."

My eyes grew wide in surprise at this. "Whoa." _Unless I tell them about the whole me crossing worlds thing, we're not going to get very far in terms of explanations. _

I felt a vibration and huffed as I pulled it out once again. -You can tell them if you wish. It will be easier for them to trust you if they hear the truth, and these two are good to have as allies.-

_Arg! It's like pulling flower petals! I'll tell them, I won't tell them, I'll tell them, I won't tell them… _I huffed as I put it back, swearing silently to myself to leave it in my pocket for longer than a minute this time.

My thumb pressed the off key on my phone until I was certain that it was off. I ran a hand through my hair and rubbed the back of my neck, relaxing slightly as the cool skin of my palm met with my warm skin.

"Fine. I'm going to have to explain everything to you guys," I started, as I let my hand fall. "But not here. We may be out of sight, but not out of mind. People are probably suspicious of a group of kids standing around in an alley."

Edward nodded and the metal helmet that Alphonse was wearing creaked against the neck of the suit as he did the same.

"We can go back to our hotel room," he offered. "We can explain some things there as well."

I raised an eyebrow at this suggestion as I backed away slightly. "That sounds a bit iffy to me," I said, my tone almost nervous.

He rolled his eyes at me. "Don't worry, we won't try anything," he assured me.

I sighed as I followed them out to the sidewalk. _I really hope I can trust these two._

* * *

**A/N: Hey ho readers! I'm in the process of writing more chapters for this, so chapter 3 will be up as soon my Blonde looks at it. **

**So to my readers, I would appreciate it if you guys could leave me reviews. Criticize this if you wish because I'm always open to ways that my writing can be improved. It's been over a year since I started writing on here and I know from experience that things always start off worse than they end. It works with writing too! So with that said feel free to criticize, praise, or type something random that's on your mind. I'll occasionally respond to reviews, so if you want to chat I'm always around. Just know that if you review with something completely unrelated and/or inappropriate, I will report you. **

**So please review, and I'll see you guys next time around. Hopeless out ^_^ **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey guys! How's life? I'm up at my grandparents' place right now, and I have nothing better to do then update. Well... I should probably be working on my big fic, but right now I want to write this and Full Blown Nightmare. **

**!Shout outs! I'd like to thank QueenBeatsAll for reviewing. I hope you're not too upset anymore now that I've updated :3**

**Well let's get this show on the road! I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

On the way to their hotel, the brothers attempted to explain this worlds' alchemy to me. All I really understood by the time we got to the building was that you needed an array, "a transmutation circle" they called it, and that there was something about equivalent exchange. Meaning what you get will be the same as what you gave. It reminded me of the pushy Honors teachers that always lectured about how "the grade you get is a reflection of how much effort you put into your work."

A scowl appeared on my face with this thought. _Screw that. I worked too damn hard on that final essay last semester to have only earned an 80…_

Their hotel room was on the second floor. Edward opened the door and let me and Alphonse go in first.

I was surprised to see their room. It was very neat, something one wouldn't usually expect from a couple teenage boys. I shouldn't have been surprised, knowing how clean my friends kept their two story house. Assuming they were alike, a small hotel room shouldn't have been an issue.

_Stop comparing them! _I mentally yelled at myself, bringing my hands up to my head to tug on my short hair. _They are different and you need to get that through your thick skull!_

The sound of the door closing snapped me back into reality and I let go, stuffing my hands into the front pockets of my jeans.

"Okay," I mumbled. "I'm in alone in a room with two guys…"

"I already told you we wouldn't do anything," Edward said, shaking his head again. I smirked at his reaction and took advantage of the opportunity I was given.

"Hm? What's wrong small fry? Never been alone with a girl before?" I teased him before laughing. I glanced over at him and noticed the pissed off expression on his face that was tinted pink from anger. His hands were in fists and I could help but start laughing even harder, knowing he was doing everything in his power to keep from exploding.

"What's so funny?" Alphonse asked me, confusion in his voice.

I was almost doubled over from laughter and it took me a couple seconds to calm down. "He's hates when people call him short, just like Eric!" One glance at the still pissed expression on his face was enough to get me started again.

"Who's Eric?" he asked, still confused.

Smiling, I made my way over to the couch and sat down. "He's part of the explanation I was eventually going to get to."

"How 'bout you explain now so that things'll start making sense?" Ed said as he stepped across the room and behind the chair in front of me.

I leaned back in the cushions and folded my arms over my chest. "Hm. I guess I should start from the beginning." After a couple seconds, I came up with an explanation that I assumed they'd be able to understand. "Well, to start off with I'm from a different world."

Their reactions told me they didn't believe me.

"You're kidding me," Edward said. I shook my head and he shifted where he was standing and leaned on the back of the chair.

"Nope," I said casually. "This world and my world are connected by something that I don't really understand. Apparently I was originally born on this world, but then I was sent over when I was about four years old. I don't have any memories of this place and I want to figure out what happened."

"How were you able to travel between the worlds?" Alphonse asked me.

I looked up at him, craning my neck slightly to meet the gaze coming from the helmet that was nearly seven feet up in the air. "Alchemy did it. When I was sent the picture of that transmutation circle, it mentioned something in a recurring dream I'd been having for a few months. I freaked out and ran over to Eric's house. I explained the situation to him and he helped me draw the circle. I got a message shortly after that there was something missing. The circle needed my blood for it to activate. I found a nail and cut my arm. Eric thought that I was going too far when I was told to hurt myself. But there are things that you just have to do, no matter the consequence, you know?"

There was a sullen look on Edward's face that caused me to furrow my brows. _I wonder what's eating him up all of a sudden…_

Alphonse broke down the awkward wall that was starting to build up. "Uh, Reeva? You keep mentioning your friend, Eric. Who is he?"

A smile touched my face and I rested my neck on the back of the couch to stare at the ceiling. "Eric is awesome," I started, staring off into space and remembering the ten years I'd known them. "And so is his younger brother, Max. To give you a general idea of the kid he looks exactly like Edward here; golden hair and eyes. The braid is the same too, actually. Max looks almost the same, but his hair is shorter and his face is more of an oval shape." I paused, still thinking about my best guy friends.

Edward cleared his throat, pulling my attention to him. "So your friend that happens to look just like me helped you draw the circle. Anything else about him that we should know?"

I bit my tongue before going on. "There is something. It basically explains why you look like him, but I'm not sure if I should tell you."

His eyebrow rose. "It can't be that bad."

"Okay," I sighed, leaning forward slightly. "Then here it is. Because of the connection, everyone that exists on this world also exists on my world. Coincidentally enough, you and my friend Eric just so happen to be doubles of each other."

The room grew completely silent. He was speechless for a few seconds while his brain tried to process this.

"So you're saying that your friend and I are exact versions of each other?" he summed up, saying it like a question.

"Uh… I guess," I said. "I'm not too familiar with the whole concept of it to give you better answer, but that's close. My friend has all of his limbs intact, so there's one aspect of your lives that's different."

"So that's how you knew how old I was," Alphonse stated, attracting Edward's and my attention. "If Ed and your friend Eric are doubles of each other, then that means that Max and I are doubles."

I nodded. "That's what I'm assuming. Thing is that Max is shorter than I am, so it doesn't seem like you guys are all that much alike."

_This is really weird. I'm supposed to be the only original. How is it possible for him to exist as someone that looks _this _different?_

The brothers went stiff slightly, pulling me from my thoughts. My brows furrowed in confusion when they did so.

Edward changed the topic in a matter of seconds. "I guess that's also why you thought that I was Eric. It makes sense that our being doubles led you to think we were the same person."

A sigh escaped from my chest and I slumped. "Yeah…," I started, bringing my hand to the back of my neck. "I'm sorry again for hassling you earlier. He was the last one I saw before I was pulled over here, so something in my brain told me that he'd been brought over too. Other than the red light, the last thing I saw was his face before I faded away into this never-ending darkness."

They stiffened again. This time, my eyes narrowed into a glare and I frowned at them. "What the hell is with the two of you?" I demanded. This seemed to shock them back into reality.

"What do you mean?" Edward asked me, his brows furrowed in confusion.

"You keep spacing out whenever I mention certain things, and it's starting to get on my nerves," I said, folding my arms across my chest. "I've told you my story, so how 'bout a few details on yours?"

He sighed, glancing down before once again meeting my gaze. His expression was a mix of emotions that I couldn't quite understand and I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Let's go down to Central Command," he said, bypassing my demand. I was taken aback and my eye started to twitch with anger. I opened my mouth to retort, but he continued talking. "Maybe Lieutenant Colonel Hughes can help us out."

A low growl resonated in my throat, but with a sigh I let it go. _They'll have to tell me eventually_, I thought.

"So what's Central Command?" I asked, letting my previously stiff expression soften.

The sound of metal on metal let me know Alphonse looking down at me. I glanced up to meet his gaze. "The Central Command Center is the building where the military is governed by our leader, Fuhrer Bradley. Our friend Hughes works in the information department, so he might be able to tell you something about what happened."

"If sending you over was military action then it's pretty likely that there'll be something," Edward said as he stood up straight from behind the chair in front of me. "If not, we might still be able to find birth records or something else that might help you."

A smirk touched my lips and I stood up. "You guys must really want this circle if you're willing to go this far."

"We have our reasons," he said, trailing off as he stepped over to the door.

The walk to Central Command was quiet, neither of the three of us saying much of anything the way there.

_I can just tell that people are staring at me. These two already seem to attract enough attention, but now I'm here!_

Desperate to hide myself from the eyes that were staring at me, I flipped my hood up and stuffed my hands into my pockets.

"What are you doing?" Edward asked me. I looked at him from the corner of my eye and shook my head.

"I've got this tight feeling in my chest that only comes when people are looking at me," I explained. "I'm not from here, so people are staring."

"You have cat ears on your hood, and you think that'll make people stop staring?"

I felt my face heat up and flush in embarrassment, and at that moment I was extremely grateful for the hood, cat ears or none. I didn't care about that anymore. It helped me hide the fact my face was red, and even if he wasn't actually Eric I still refused to let anyone see me blush.

"Shut up," I hissed.

I heard him sigh and let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding.

_Once I show these two the circle, I wonder if they can reverse it and send me home. _My fingers crossed in my pocket and I closed my eyes for a second. _Please let me be able to go home._

"There it is," Alphonse said as we neared the end of a street. Curious, I lifted my head. My eyes grew wide at what I was seeing.

In the middle of the city was a giant concrete wall, and from the hill we were on I could see past the wall and at the massive building inside. It was a massive building, several times large than I'd anticipated. Almost five times as long as the white house, with two other buildings coming forward that were attached to the main building.

My jaw dropped at the sight and my hood fell back. "Whoa," I said, shocked into a state of awe. "This is incredible."

"You get used to it," Edward commented as he continued forward.

I closed my mouth, but my eyes remained wide. "How can you be so blunt!? This is cool!"

"The shock wears off after you've seen it enough times." His tone was uninterested and his gaze was distant, as if he was thinking about something.

_These two are no fun,_ I thought with a childish frown.

The guards at the front of the gate stood at attention and saluted us. "Welcome back Fullmetal," one of them said. I frowned at the name, but decided to assume it was normal.

Edward lazily waved a hello to them. I swallowed as I followed behind him. I met the gaze of one of the guards and he narrowed his eyes at me. He put an arm out to stop me from going forward and I let out a surprised squeak.

"State your name and business," he demanded.

My eyes grew wide and I stammered, all my thoughts traveling to the gun at his side. "I, uh…"

"It's okay, she's with us," Edward said, coming to my rescue.

Upon hearing this, the guard moved away so that I could come through. Still scared, I stepped forward cautiously.

_He looked like he would've killed me! _I thought, my heart racing and my breathing shallow. I took a deep breath to calm down and sighed. _Talk about an adrenaline rush._

I followed them across the courtyard, where I saw several other soldiers. All of them were wearing the same blue uniforms, and there were even some woman standing about.

_That's cool,_ I thought, smiling to myself. _They've got woman in the military, whereas we've only recently allowed for them to join. This place isn't too bad._

I felt a wave of relaxing energy wash over me, but it shattered the moment I saw _him._

My eyes grew wide again and I took to hiding behind Ed. I looked around his shoulder and noticed that he was giving me a confused look.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"It's _his_ double," I said in a quiet yet panicked tone.

His brows furrowed at this. "Who are you talking about?"

"Elric brothers! It's good to see you!" the deep bass called from across the hall. I let out a squeak again and hid myself even more. For once I was happy to be only 5'4''.

"Uh, hi Major," Edward said, his tone starting to become nervous.

"Hello Major Armstrong," Alphonse greeted, his voice shaking as well.

"What brings you to Central Command?" the giant man asked.

Ed grabbed my arm with his metal hand and pulled me out from behind him. I swallowed again and wanted to run away.

_It really is _his_ double_, I thought, taking notice of the distinguishable mustache and strange hair curl.

"We're here helping our new friend, Reeva," he said, letting go of my wrist. I rubbed where he'd grabbed me while he continued talking. "She needed some information and we thought that Hughes could help us out."

Armstrong's eyes narrowed slightly. "You're not planning on giving classified information to an average civilian, are you?"

"Of course not!" Ed said defensively. "We're just going to see if we can dig up any personal information on her. She wants to know more about her family and stuff like that."

There was something inside me that told me he didn't believe this story, but my fears were cleared away when he smiled. It was hard to tell through his mustache, but I knew his smile and the air about him seemed to sparkle from his personality. "Good then. Good luck you three, and tell the Lieutenant Colonel I said hello."

The brothers saluted him and Armstrong did the same. I stared at him with a blank expression as he walked away.

"He's just as weird on this world," I muttered, letting my now sore wrist fall to my side.

Ed raised an eyebrow at me. "What's Armstrong like on your world?" he asked me, careful to keep his voice down.

"His name is Mr. Kingsman, and he's the most enthusiastic World History teacher ever known to man," I said. "He scares the crap out of everyone because of his massive size."

A smirk appeared on his face for the first time since I'd met him when I said this. It was strange. On Eric smiles seemed so natural, but with Edward he had such a serious air about him that it was hard to believe I'd mistaken him for my best friend.

The smirk on his face brought a smile to mine for a brief moment. "So what's up with the weird nickname?" I asked as we rounded a corner.

His eyebrow rose at this. "What nickname?"

"The one the guard back there called you 'Fullmetal' if I remember correctly."

He nodded once at this. "That. Every State Alchemist is given a title that is also used as their code name. I was given the name Fullmetal when I joined about three years ago."

_Three years_, I thought. "Hm… Wait! You joined the military when you were twelve!?"

"Yup," he said. "I've been busting my tail ever since too."

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion and I brought my volume down. "Why the hell would you do something like that at such a young age?"

He went quiet. "I'll explain it to you later," he said as he stopped in front of a door. He knocked on it thrice before someone came forward and opened it. My eyes grew wide when I saw yet another familiar face in a uniform.

_Mr. Herman!?_

"Hi Ed," he said cheerfully, a smile on his face that brought one to mine. "Hey Al. I see you've brought a friend."

Still smiling I stepped forward and offered a hand. "Hi," I said as he accepted my shake. "My name is Reeva, please to meet you."

"Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes," he said as we stepped back. "So what brings you two to my office?"

"We were hoping you could help our friend," Alphonse said.

I elbowed Ed in the side to get his attention while Al distracted Hughes. "Hey," I said quietly as he met my gaze. "Can we trust this guy?"

"Yeah, why?" he whispered back.

"If I told him what I told him what I told the two of you, would we be able to trust him to keep a secret?"

A nod from him was my answer. "We've been able to trust Hughes for a while now, and telling him would help us make progress."

I nodded back. "Uh, Lieutenant Colonel?" I said. The room went quiet as everyone turned their attention to me. The tight feeling in my chest came back. I hated having strangers stare at me. I cleared my throat and went on. "There are some things you need to know about me before we do anything more..."

* * *

"So you're saying that you're from a parallel world and everyone that exists here also exists there," Hughes summed up.

I nodded. "Yes."

"And that you were born here, but for some reason you were sent to the world you call home when you were four years old. You also have no memories of anything that happened before hand."

Nod. "Yes."

"So now you're here bribing Ed and Al with a transmutation circle that you'll show them after you get the information you want."

"I… I wouldn't say 'bribe', exactly…" I trailed off and sighed. "Okay, sure. Whatever. So can you help me?"

He put a hand to his chin and focused on something while he thought. "If you're telling the truth then you're not technically an illegal alien or immigrant; you were born here, therefore you're a legal citizen. I have nothing I can report on that matter. As far as records go, you must've been declared missing at some point and then dead after four years. It's been eleven, but it's possible we still have something on a case like this. For all we know it's not a closed case just yet."

Hughes stood up from where he sat and stepped over to a door that was at the other side of the room. He opened it and turned on a light. "Come on in you three," he said.

I brushed my hair back behind my ears and stood up, pulling the bottom of my hoodie down so that it didn't bunch up in the middle.

The three of us stepped in to the small room. It was filled with shelves and file cabinets. Hughes was standing next to one that said "1903" on the drawer. He patted the top to get our attention.

"This cabinet has records of all missing people, kidnappings, and deaths that occurred eleven years ago," he said. "I give you three permission to search it to your heart's content. If you can't find anything here, then I'll pull out the later records for you to go through."

My eyes lit up and I gave him a smile. "Thank you so much Lieutenant Colonel," I said cheerfully.

He smiled back at me. "I never thought I'd see the day when somebody would be happy with knowledge that they could potentially be declared dead."

"I'm alive and well here, and according to state records back home I'm very much alive," I said, still smiling. "If I'm dead here, then I guess I'll have to live with it."

He laughed at this. "Well I'm going to go bother Roy, so you three are free to look through those until I get back."

"Thanks again," I said. He gave me a smile and stepped out of the room.

Once he was gone, my brows furrowed. "Who the hell is Roy?" I thought out loud.

A scowl appeared on Ed's face as he answered me. "Colonel Roy Mustang, also known as my commanding officer."

"You mean the guy you report to?" I asked, the unfamiliar military term throwing me off.

"Yeah," he stated flatly. He sighed before returning his focus on the files. "Come on. The faster we get this done, the faster we can get out of here."

The feeling of discomfort and distrust seemed to radiate throughout the room. It left a bittersweet taste in my mouth as we started to go through the files.

We made it halfway through the first drawer by the time Hughes came back. There was nothing useful in any of the files we'd searched. I sighed as I stuffed some papers back into a file folder.

_This seems pointless,_ I thought as I returned to my pessimistic ways. _There's just so much for one year's worth of time. It seems almost impossible!_

Moaning quietly, I flipped my hood over my head and pulled it over my eyes as I lied back on the floor.

"Reeva?" I heard Eric say.

I let out an irritated groan at my old friend. "Reevie's brain isn't working right now," I said lazily, rolling onto my side. "Leave a message and try again later."

After a few seconds my exhausted brain started working again. _Wait a second... Eric isn't here. That was Edward. _I scoffed at my sudden realization. _Duh. _

"Did you guys find anything useful?" Hughes said from the doorway. I tilted my head up to look past my black hood.

"Nope, nothing," I grumbled, sitting up. "We didn't even make it through the first drawer of that thing."

He nodded at this and looked over the scattered papers that were strewn across the floor. "Well I'm going home now, so you three need to clear out of here."

"Yeah, okay," Ed said. "We'll put this stuff away and head out."

Hughes nodded and left the room. The sound of a door opening and closing told me he was officially gone.

With a tired sigh, I started forcing papers into their appropriate files. _Home… I need to get what I want and leave ASAP. I really hope that Eric found a way to cover for me. _I realized what I'd thought after the fact. _Fuck it. I'm going to be in deep shit when I finally get home._

A loud yawn escaped from my lips. Knocking the hood back off of my head, I stood up and stretched my arms. "Holy hell raisers, am I tired," I complained. A spark went off in my head concerning where I'd be staying while here. I groaned again and my head slumped forward.

_Shit, I should've put more thought into what would happen if I listened to that guy. _My hand went up to my neck and started to massage the small knots that had developed over the course of my long day.

A flash of gold in the corner of my eye caught my attention. I bit the inside of my cheek as I thought it through. _I've crashed on Eric and Max's couch plenty of times before during Mom's business trips... _

I slapped myself across the cheek while the brothers behind me refiled the cabinet. They paused at the sound, but disregarded it and carried on. _Dammit! For the last time, stop that! These are not the boys you've known for over ten years! God only knows what they'd say if I asked to stay with them. I'm a goddamn stranger to them, even after the long explanations. _

"Um," I started, trying to find enough courage to speak up. My voice squeaked the first time, drawing attention to myself. I tried again. "Uh, so I was wondering if it'd be okay for me to sleep in you guys' hotel. I don't have a place to stay, unless I stick around in that alley."

They were quiet as they thought this over. I had no idea what to expect. Were we friends? No. Allies? Maybe. Could they eventually get me home? I could only hope.

Alphonse was the first to speak up. "We have a big enough hotel room that having an extra person around shouldn't be a problem," he said, taking my side. "What do you think Brother?"

My heart tugged when I all I could hear was Max. The familiar nickname he used towards Ed made me hide my sad face under my copper hair.

Ed responded with a sigh. I looked back up at him, eyebrow raised. "It'll help us to keep an eye on you, I guess. And I'm not so heartless that I'll throw out on the streets."

Happiness nearly overwhelmed me, and while my lips turned up into a wide smile I had to resist the urge to glomp him to the ground. "Omigod thank you!" I exclaimed. I brushed my hair behind my ears and looked over the two of them. Ed was staring at me, and I couldn't tell what Al's expression was due to the helmet.

"Uh, sure?" Ed said.

The three of us finished putting away the files and we left the same way we came.

The air outside was chilled. I zipped my jacket up and stuffed my hands into my pockets in an attempt to stay warm. Spring nights were always colder than days. I felt lucky the weather here was similar to that back home, even though I wore my hoodie no matter the temperature.

I waved goodbye to the guard as we exited Central Command. He raised an eyebrow at me before waving back.

_Haha! Nice job Reeves, _I thought, smiling to myself. A cold breeze brushed against the back of my neck, wiping the smile off of my face. Grimacing, I flipped my hood back up. Screw whoever saw the cat ears, I was cold.

"So where are you guys from?" I asked. "Wouldn't need a hotel if you had a home."

An uncomfortable silence followed my question. I bit my lip, taking notice of an obviously sensitive topic to late.

I cleared my throat. "Okay then, new topic. How's life?" I tried.

No response.

An unhappy moan sounded from the back of my throat. _I now see I probably shouldn't pry, but it's too damn quiet! _

The nerves ate at me for what felt like forever until we finally made it to the hotel and then their room.

Ed unlocked the door and let me and Al inside before he joined us. I looked around the room and took notice of things I hadn't seen before. In a far corner was a door to what I assumed was a bathroom, and behind a separate wall and counter there was a small kitchen area. It reminded me of a studio apartment, but there were two beds instead of a usual one. I sat down on the brown couch that was in the middle of the room next to a coffee table. My thoughts traveled to a couple hours ago when I told the two about my situation.

A thought came to me as I turned around to face Ed. "Equivalent exchange," I said.

His brows furrowed. "What of it?" he asked me.

I repositioned myself on the couch and set my folded arms on the back of it. "You told me before that you would explain why you joined the military. Well, you've heard my story so equivalent exchange is now in effect, right?"

Ed scoffed at me. "I guess you were listening."

My lower lip pushed into the top one as I frowned at this. "Of course I listened. I'm not that absent-minded."

He shook his head and smiled solemnly as he sat on the bed at the far side of the room. "I'm now regretting telling you about alchemy."

"Ah, come on," I said, my frown shifting into a smirk. "You're an alchemist that works for the military. It makes… some sense I guess."

His eyebrow rose. "Only some?"

"More sense than what's going through my head right now anyway."

Ed shook his head at me again I heard Al chuckle from the other side of the room.

The smirk on my face fell when I realized he was avoiding the situation. The air went still and I cleared my throat to grab their attention again. The both of them looked at me and I brush my hair back behind my ears to get it out of my face for what I was about to do.

"Ed," I started. I looked at him with pleading eyes. It was a dirty trick to use this look on him. Even the most straight-faced person would be putty in my palms when I brought out the big guns. "Will you please tell me?"

The look on his face nearly made me crack. I couldn't tell if it was guilty or if it was sympathetic. Whatever the hell it was, he let out a sigh and caved.

"Fine," he said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I'll tell you."

I let my hair fall back to cover my right half of my face. _Works like a charm._

* * *

**A/N: Hi again! So right now Reeva is about to try and get some information out of these two. What will happen? Well, you'll have to wait because I'm only half-way done with the next chapter. You'll get to read from Eric's point of view and learn more about him and Max.**

**I've just left you on a cliffhanger! Mwhahaha *_* How was it? I'd like some more reviews on this, but I promise I won't beg or demand. Remember I'm open to criticism, so if there's a problem please let me know. Take care!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hi guys! Am I writing to fast? I mean, it's summer so I don't have anything better to do then type whatever comes to mind, but I'd like you to tell me. **

**So as I promised you guys get to read about Eric and Max from their perspective! You can probably see it from here. It's in third person, because Reeva is the main character and I feel that only she should have the first person title. You also get to read from Ed's perspective for a few paragraphs. I may never put in so many PoV changes again, but you will see from Ed's perspective occasionally when Reeva ends up unconscious. **

**Okay! Onto the shout outs! I'd like to thank xXEmiShaeXx, QueenBeatsAll, Ed's. Curious. Kitten (nice to see you again), and the guest MissingNo for reviewing. Queen gave me an idea that I might play with *w* **

**We now commence with the below fanfic. I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

He wasn't explaining everything. I could tell. He seemed skittish towards the topic and he dodged what I assumed were major points in his life story. All I knew by the end was that he joined the military after his mom died, and he wanted this thing called a Philosopher's Stone. For the past few years he and his brother had been travelling across the country in search of the thing. I didn't know why he wanted it, but it seemed like another sensitive topic. I just nodded every so often while my brain attempted to process the vague information I was given.

_These two are really off,_ I thought as I shifted where I sat. _For one I'm starting to question Al's armor. Sure I've seen weird shit. Hell, for Halloween the whole table cross-dressed! There will never be a creepier sight then Max in a skirt and Eric wearing Nellie's clothes._ I shuddered slightly at this thought before straightening out again. _In any case, he's not exactly the double I would expect to see._

Life calmed down once Ed was done with his "explanation". The sky outside had grown dark and the moon was creeping up higher in the sky. The yawn that came out of my mouth told me that it was time for me to wind down.

Without another word spoken between the three of us, we all drifted to our own places in the room. I pulled off my high-tops and let myself fall sideways on the couch. My arm moved under my head to act as a pillow. Not long after I fell asleep.

* * *

(Eric-a few hours earlier)

His eyes stared wide at his hand, which was still hovering above the circle.

"No," he whispered. Eyes narrowing, his hand clenched into a fist and he turned on his heel to punch the wall. "Dammit, no!"

Eric's breathing had grown heavy by now, and he had no idea what had just happened.

_I almost had her! I reached out to pull her away, but my hand went right through her! I couldn't save her…_

"Brother!" Max called from the kitchen door that connected to the garage. "Dinner is almost ready!"

Eric didn't move at all; he just stood there, staring at the wall. His little brother's words no longer held any meaning. He was too frozen by the shock of losing his best friend for anything else to matter anymore.

With a creek, the door behind him opened. "I just told you that dinner is almost ready. Is Reeves staying for…?" He trailed off as he looked around. "Eric, what happened?"

His fists only grew tighter. "She's gone," he whispered.

"What?" He hadn't heard his quiet voice.

"She's gone!" Eric yelled as he turned back around, taking his brother aback with his reaction. He held his face with one hand and tried hard to stay strong. It wasn't helping. He backed into the wall and slid down to the ground.

"What do you mean 'she's gone'?" Max asked, stepping closer. He grew weary when he saw the massive circle and the spots of red in the middle. "W… what did you guys do?"

The elder brother swallowed down the lump that had formed in his throat. "Reeva was getting these creepy texts from some guy who knows about the dream she told us about. She hadn't mentioned it to anyone but us. And then the guy sent her this picture of a circle. He said that if she drew the circle then she'd learn about what happened eleven years ago."

"Eleven? That's when she was adopted, right?" Max asked as he thought it over.

Eric nodded, knowing this for a fact. "Yeah, and she bought into it. She came to me for help 'cause she said she would next time something bothered her." He paused and let out a breath. "You saw her. She was shaking and it didn't even look like she could breathe. It really freaked me out so I caved. After we drew that thing, we expected something to happen, but then she got a text saying there was a missing ingredient. It needed her blood."

Max's eyes grew wide as saucers as he looked at the red splatters that were in the center of the chalk circle. Beside it was a nail, covered in the same darkening red. His stomach turned, but he swallowed down the discomfort. "So she… she cut herself and then what?"

It was hard to go on, but Max needed to know. "The lines started to glow this weird blue color. There were shadows and then they turned into these creepy black arms. They wrapped around her and then she disappeared."

"What do you mean!?" Max exclaimed. "How could she disappear!?"

"I don't know!" he yelled back. "All I know is that she's gone and I don't know if I can bring her back."

Finally noticing the pained look in Eric's eyes, Max stepped around the circle and sat next to his brother. "Don't worry. She'll come back," he said easily.

Eric's brows furrowed. "How do you know?"

"Because she loves you," he said. Eric's face heated up and turned bright red the second his brother mentioned this. Max laughed, his golden eyes lighting up. "And judging from that reaction I'd say the feeling is mutual."

"What are you talking about?" Eric protested, the look on his face deceiving him.

Max shook his head and sighed. "Why is it I'm I the one that notices this kinda thing?"

"I think you've been spending too much time with Nellie," Eric teased, the red slowly fading into pink. Max elbowed him at this.

"I'm serious," the younger brother said. "She loves all of us. You and me. Kaya and Nellie. Her mom is here too. She'd do anything to get back to us. But what if those messages were telling her the truth? What's gonna happen if she finds out about her real family?"

Eric sighed and rested his chin on his knees. "I don't know."

There was a moment of silence as the brothers thought about the situation. Max was the first to speak.

"So what should we do?" he asked.

The elder brother put some though into this. "Well we can't exactly call the cops. They'll take us away the second they notice that _he_ isn't here." Eric scowled as he mentioned their father and Max seemed sad. Recently the man would show up every so often to pretend that he was a parent, but he wasn't around nearly enough to be considered one. "We won't even get a chance to mention anything about Reeves. And this had to be some kind of magic. That shouldn't be possible, so they won't think anything of it."

"Then what can we do?"

Eric stared at the circle, unsure. A light bulb went off in his head and he said, "If she disappeared through this circle, then it's possible she'll come back through this circle. As long as we make sure nothing bothers it, it should be okay."

Max nodded. "That makes sense, but you're not going to sit here until she gets back. It could take days, maybe longer."

He said nothing as he stared at nail in the circle. With a sigh, he tried to compromise. "I won't stay here the entire time. I'll go to bed and school and make dinner on my days to cook, but I'll stay out here the rest of the time.

The two ended up staring each other down until Max snapped and agreed to the conditions. "Fine," he said. "But you're getting your own damn food."

Eric smirked and smacked his brother on the back of the head. "Fine."

While they sat at the table, he felt a vibration in his pocket. He recognized the number. It was Reeva's mom, Miss Jeanie.

He stepped out of the kitchen and answered. "Hello?"

"Hi Eric," her voice said. "I really hate to ask this, but could you go and tell Reeva that I won't be home for a couple weeks? There's an emergency conference over in California that I have to go to, and I can't get out of it. Her phone doesn't seem to be on right now."

He nodded before remembering she couldn't see him. "Yeah, sure. I'll tell her."

She sighed in relief. "Thanks Hun," she said. Miss Jeanie was like a mom to them, so he'd grown accustomed to the affectionate nickname. "I appreciate it."

"You're welcome."

They exchanged farewells and Eric hung up the line.

_Well with Miss Jeanie over on the west coast for a couple weeks, now we have time to plan how to cover for Reeves when her mom gets back… _He let out a breath and walked back into the kitchen.

* * *

{Reeva}

"_You will never belong."_

"_You are not welcome here."_

"_You must be eliminated."_

"_The chain cannot break."_

_A nightmare. There are several voices, all of them whispering to me at once. It's dark, and I can feel a hundred hands grabbing me and trying to drag me down. Down…. down… down…_

"_You cannot live. Eleven years ago this interference had been dealt with. You shouldn't have come back."_

_I shake fiercely, trying to get the hands and arms to let me go. It doesn't work. They get tighter, as if trying to strangle me. _

_That's when I realized that's what they're trying to do. An original shouldn't exist, but does that mean I'm supposed to die? Can't I live? If this concerns who Eric is supposed to end up with, then I'll clear out of the way for whoever's double needs to come in. I just don't want to die! _

_I struggle to free myself, but they only pull harder. I can't even protest anymore._

"_But you must."_

"_The Original will destroy us all."_

"_You aren't meant to exist." _

"_You must be destroyed before you destroy everything else."_

"_You will never belong."_

...

My eyes opened wide as I woke up. It was still dark, and I'd been woken early by yet another dream. This time it was a legitimate nightmare.

_Holy shit. Maybe I really did jinx myself back then,_ I thought as I tucked my legs to my chest. With my fleece bottoms back home, there was little sense of comfort from this rude awakening.

I was breathing heavily and my shirt was stuck to my back with sweat. As I tried to pull my hoodie off, I realized that I was covered with a blanket. Upon further inspection I noticed that there was a pillow under my head.

"Are you okay?" a voice asked me.

I jolted up where I was before holding my head in my hands. The pain I felt in the alley was back. I let out a pained moan and finally rid myself of the sweater. After tossing it aside, I lied back down on the pillow and brought my arm over my face.

"Reeva," the voice said. It finally registered as Al. "Did you have a nightmare?"

My arm fell and I pushed up slowly to turn towards him. He was sitting on the floor against the wall next to the window. Even with the lack of light I could tell that he was still wearing the armor.

"Yeah," I answered as I rolled onto my stomach. I hugged the pillow to my chest and put my chin on the arm of the couch to meet his gaze. I couldn't see his face, but I knew he was looking over at me. "I've gotten used to a lack of sleep, so it doesn't bother me when I wake up early anymore."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

My lips twitched upwards into a careful smile. "It's fine. Don't worry about it."

_He's like Max; too nice for anyone to hate him._

The helmet creaked against the neck of the armor as his head turned. "Brother has nightmares too," he said. This took me by surprise. "There are some nights when he wakes up and he can hardly breathe. It's sad to see you like that as well now."

The smile shifted into a frown. I licked my dry lips and got up. He watched as I sat beside him. "Can I tell you something?" I asked.

He didn't say anything, but then he nodded. "Yeah, I guess."

I brought my knees to my chest and rested my chin on them. "I keep thinking about them. Eric and Max. You guys are the same, but also different. I keep comparing you guys and... I know you're different people, and I need to stop doing it, but I just can't. I hear Ed or you talk and I think that I'm hanging out with my boys, instead of you. I… I'm sorry."

There was this nagging guilt that wouldn't stop tugging at my heart. I hugged my legs tight before letting my fingers trace along the rose Kaya had drawn on the lower leg. Tears prickled against my eyes and I quickly wiped them away against my knees.

"It's okay," Al said. "You must feel pretty lonely, being so far away from the people you love."

"What about you guys?" I asked. "Don't you have someone waiting for you to come back safe and sound?"

He was quiet for a second. "Winry and Granny," he answered. "They're the ones that made Ed's automail. They're like family to us."

I nodded. "So where are they?"

"Back home in Resembull. It's a town in the Eastern part of the country," he answered.

"Hm." I paused to lick my lips. "Do you miss them?"

"Yeah," he said softly. "I do. We only ever see them when Ed breaks his arm or leg. It happens often enough that we see them every couple months."

I laughed at this. "Is he really that reckless?"

I could envision Max's exasperated smile being on Al's face. "Yeah, he is," he answered. I laughed again, but stopped quickly when I heard Ed's bed creak.

"So why are you awake?" I asked once the moment of silence had turned into a minute.

He went quiet. "I couldn't sleep," he answered after a couple seconds.

My eyebrow rose at this. He seemed reluctant to explain. Maybe it was me being me, but I was confused. Why was he still wearing the armor? Why had he given me his blanket and pillow? I appreciated the gesture, but he needed them for himself.

"Is everything okay with you Al?" I asked. _There's something wrong here. _

"Uh, yeah," he answered. "Y-you should probably try to get some more sleep. Tomorrow will be a busy day, and…"

I sighed, interrupting him. "I swear, I get hassled by the boys everywhere I go." I laughed lightly at this and elbowed the chest plate. There was a hollow thump when I hit it. My brows furrowed at it, but I'd caught my funny bone against a corner. Anything concerning him, Ed, or my guys fled my mind and I doubled over. "Oww," I moaned as I fell sideways to the floor. "Mother f-…!" I started to swear, but seethed instead. I didn't want to wake up Ed, or if he was already awake, prevent him from going back. "You're too hard!"

He laughed at my stupidity. "Good grief Reeva. Just go to sleep."

A growl resonated within my throat, but quickly faded. I didn't care anymore as I yawned. I stood and made my way back to the couch. "Whatever. You try sleeping too though, okay?"

The silence returned, but soon he responded. "Okay."

"Night Al," I said with a yawn. The moment my head hit the pillow, my eyelids drooped and I fell asleep for the second time that night.

* * *

(Ed)

For a few minutes after Reeva and Al finished talking, Ed continued to stare at the empty bed beside him. The sheet had been pulled off and one of the two pillows was missing. Al had given them to Reeva, seeing as they had gone virtually untouched since the brothers had arrived back in Central.

The sound of steady breathing coming from the other side of the room let him know that Reeva had gone back to sleep.

He was careful to make sure the bed didn't creak as he sat up in it. Al's head rubbed against the neck of the suit as he looked at his brother.

"Did we wake you?" he asked.

Ed shook his head. "No," he responded. "I woke up a little while ago."

Al nodded. "Did you hear her talking in her sleep?"

The elder brother nodded as well. "You mean the thing about the 'Original'? Yeah. I could hear her mumbling from over here."

"What do you think she was talking about?"

He thought for a moment before lying back down against his pillow. "I don't know, but whatever it was it's something important she's not telling us." His eyes closed and he tried to sleep.

Al wouldn't let him. "Don't force her to tell you anything," Al warned.

Ed furrowed his eyebrows and turned back towards his brother. "What are you talking about?"

"Even if that circle ends up helping us get our bodies back, we can't push her to tell us more than she's willing," Al said. "You left out a lot while explaining stuff to her, but she didn't force anything out of you. She'll eventually tell us what an original is, and it's possible she'll find out about us."

Al had always been more level-headed then his brother, and their conversation was proof of it. But there was one thing that continued to bother Ed.

_She only said a few words, but at one point she was begging something not to kill her. What's the connection? Someone or something is threatening her life, and she says something about being 'original'._

Ed rolled onto his side and closed his eyes. _Al has a point. We'll eventually find these things out, so I shouldn't push it._

* * *

{Reeva}

I had fallen asleep for what I assumed was about an hour, but then I woke up again. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't go back to the pleasant dreamless state I'd been in. The nightmare had taken hold of my thoughts, and I suddenly feared for my life.

_What if the people that sent me away find out that I came back? Would they send me away again, or would they kill me and be done with it?_ _If I'm not supposed to exist, then why do I?_

The questions sent my head running in circles to the point where I felt like I would be sick.

_Cool it Reeves! Just stop thinking about it_, I told myself. I sat up and put my head in my hands. _In a little while we'll be back at Central Command and we'll keep searching through those files. I won't trouble anyone with this original shit if I can't help it. _

"Is everything okay?" I heard someone ask. I looked up and saw Ed across the room. He looked like he was in the process of getting dressed. He was standing in a pair of long pants and a blank sleeveless top. It was a normal outfit, but I could see his metal arm better. It extended all the way up and connected to his shoulder.

He must've noticed me staring, because he quickly put on a black sweater.

"I… Uh, yeah," I answered. I pushed my hair behind my ears and moved out from under the covers. "I'm fine."

Ed nodded and he stepped around to the other side of his bed. The alternating thump, clang, reminded me that he mentioned he had a leg made of automail as well.

I looked over the back of the couch and caught sight of a metal foot.

"How did it happen?" I asked, watching as he out on a pair of leather boots.

He looked over at me and sighed. "It's a long story, and one I don't want to tell."

I nodded. _And the sensitive topics return! Sheesh. These guys are really on edge about this stuff. I mean, I'm not telling them a whole lot, but what could be so bad that it's making them so touchy?_

"So where did Al go?" I asked, straying away from the previous conversation. I reached down for my purple high-tops and stuffed my feet into them.

"Probably out for a walk," he said.

My brows furrowed as I relaced my shoes. "You mean you don't know?"

"He gets up early, so it must be boring waiting for us to wake up," was my answer.

I shook my head and sighed. An idea came to mind as I finished the second bow. "Hey, why does your brother wear that armor all the time?" I asked, turning back around to look at him.

Ed froze and it looked as if he was trying to fabricate some story. "Well, when we were learning about alchemy our teacher told us that to train the mind you need to train the body as well. Wearing the armor is what he's been doing to train."

Well… at least it sounded legitimate. But it seemed like he wore it around all the time. Even if it was for training, it seemed weird.

I left the conversation alone and ran my hands through my hair to get out whatever tangles had amassed over the course of my sleepless night. My hands fluffed up the copper strands before I brushed the sides behind my ears. While I did this there was a low growling sound coming from my stomach. I sighed with the realization I hadn't eaten anything since the previous day's school lunch.

"Hey Ed," I started to get his attention. "What's for breakfast?"

He smirked at me. It seemed that he was expecting another question about his life, and he was relieved with a commonplace question. "There's a cafeteria downstairs. I normally eat there while Al's out."

I nodded. "So are we're going there now?"

Ed nodded and stood up from his place on the bed. "Yeah."

Still sitting, my hand went to up to rub the back of my neck. "Sorry to trouble you," I said.

"The military gives me more than enough money, so you don't have to worry about it," he reassured me.

The lump forming in my throat was quickly swallowed down. I stood up and followed him out the door. There was part of me that wanted to go back and grab my hoodie, but I was fine in just my grey shirt for now. It was only breakfast after all.

We got to the counter and I got my usual breakfast; scrambled eggs with bacon. It wasn't the same as how my mom made them, but just having something familiar put me into a better mood.

We sat down at a table to eat and didn't say much for a while. Until the questions came back…

"Reeva," Ed started to get my attention. I'd been starting to space out. "What's an 'Original'?"

The second he said this I froze. Time seemed to stand still while my mind went off and out in a hundred directions.

"What do you mean?" I asked. I wanted to know how much he knew, and if I could still trust him.

Ed's eyes narrowed at me when I said this. "I could hear you talking in your sleep last night. You said something about 'original' before you woke up and started talking to Al."

My chest was getting tight. The little bastard had me in some kind of corner, but I wasn't about to tell him anything. I took a deep breath and held my ground.

"Why should I tell you anything more?" I asked, my eyes glaring at his. "Why should I mention anything to you when you've left out so much of your own story?"

This got him. He froze for a second before turning away slightly with a scowl on his face.

"Look, if the time comes for it I'll tell you what that means, but I don't want to cause more trouble than I have to."

I leaned back in my chair, but I felt odd. Without the sweater I felt exposed. I shifted slightly in my chair before standing up and walking in the direction of the room.

"Where are you going?" he asked me.

He didn't get an answer from me. Footsteps came from behind me.

"What are you doing?" he asked once he'd caught up with me.

"I'm going back to the room for my hoodie," I answered as I went upstairs.

He didn't question me and let me go back into the room. The cat ears stood out like a sore thumb, but I felt at peace as I zipped it up halfway.

I turned back to face Ed. Behind him Al was standing in the doorway. "Morning," I greeted. Ed turned around to see who it was I was talking to.

"Good morning Reeva," he replied. "Did you guys eat already?"

Ed nodded. "Yeah," he said. "We should head over to Central Command so we have time to look through the file cabinet."

"Yay," I cheered sarcastically. _It's like school work, only more personal._ I stuffed my hands into my pockets and sighed. "Well let's get this over with. Lead the way, Fullmetal."

His eyebrow rose at the use of his codename, and he wasn't exactly sure how to react. He met my gaze for a moment, trying to figure me out. When that didn't work he turned and went out the door. Al and I followed his lead and soon we were back on the streets.

The city took my breath away with each glance. Because of the early hour there was hardly anyone around, save the shop keeps that were opening their stores, so I was able to see more. The city looked like a photograph that would never fade. The buildings gave of an air of old and new that confused me.

_Ha! It's like Schrödinger's Cat!_ I thought with a smile that started to grow wide. _Is it old? Is it new? Is it both? It'll never make sense to me either way._

"What's with you?" Ed asked me.

I looked over at him and met his once again confused gaze. "I'm comparing your city to a radioactive cat," I said easily before continuing to look around.

From the corner of my eye I noticed the brothers exchanged glances before giving up.

_Heh, I broke them. _The smile on my face turned into an amused smirk. My hands left my jacket pockets to switch to my pants pockets. I felt my phone as I tried to put my hands inside. _Something tells me I should turn this thing back on. _

Sighing, I pressed the end key until the screen lit up. Surprisingly enough there were no messages waiting for me.

"Huh," I mumbled. _Guess he gave up or something._

I was wrong. Seconds later my phone vibrated to alert me I had another message.

-I did not give up. You turned your phone off, so it would've been a pointless waste of time for me to even try.-

I rolled my eyes. _You know, this shouldn't be possible. How are you able to read my thoughts? _

-I come from a realm beyond the two worlds, giving me certain abilities.-

My eyes grew wide. _Are you telling me you're God?_

I could almost hear whoever it was texting me sigh. -What you call me is up to you, but to simplify…-

A sharp pain shot through the back of my skull, preventing me from reading the rest. It wasn't like before when I'd woken up in the alley. It felt as if I'd been rammed in the back of the head with a baseball bat. I wanted to scream in pain, but everything happened to quickly for me to do anything.

My vision began to blur and soon it went black, while the world around me went silent as I fell forward. The last thing I heard was my phone bouncing away on the sidewalk.

* * *

**A/N: Mwahahahahaha! The evil cliffhanger! I have blown about eight minds! Why eight? Well... that's the number of followers this has, so I'm going with it. ANYWAY! I know that there are probably a few of you that are hating me for the cliffy, but as I've said in other fics TBSSYL. To bad, so sad, you'll live. Heh, I'm so mean. **

**In other words, I've been obsessing over this fanfic since I started writing it. I don't want to stop until it's done! But I'm an RPG addict, so I must play at least one level before this insanity can commence. So while I'm busy, how about you take the time to review? Please? 'm open to all reviews, but anything inappropriate will be flagged, so don't do to me what some guy did to shiroamaya (those two are insane btw, so I'd recommend reading their fics alone to reduce the amount of awkward). **

**Okay! Well I'm going to get a sandwich! You guys review or not, and see you next time. Love you all!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hello my furry friends! I promise you I haven't forgotten about this fanfic; I've been with the GW2 fandom both here and on deviantART. I made a friend while there! Anyways, this had been sitting in my documents for a while and I figured I might as well write this while I've got writers block on my other stuff. **

**I'm sure you guys will be pleased to see the continuation from the cliff-hanger I left y'all on, so I'll shut up now and see you at the end :)**

* * *

(Ed)

Ed cringed when he heard a loud smack. Seconds later Reeva fell forwards between him and Al, blood dripping from the back of her head, while the thing she carried around bounced to his feet.

Eyes wide, he and Al spun around and saw someone in an alleyway.

"Oh great. Just my luck," the figure said, his tone pissed off. He stepped forward and Ed could now see a person with long black hair standing with what appeared to be a club. "Of course the Fullmetal pipsqueak and the walking tin can would be in the way."

His eyes narrowed at the short comment. "What the hell do you want?"

"I just want the Original," the person said, a sly smile beginning to show up on his face. The confused looks of the brothers turned the smile up into a grin. "What's this now? She didn't tell you? Hahaha!" He laughed loudly and shook his head. "Well I'm not going to be the one to spoil the surprise."

"What are you talking about?" Ed demanded. 'Original' had come up several times since they'd met Reeva, and it was beginning to bother him.

"You'll find out eventually, but I'm not saying anything." The stranger kneeled forward and grabbed Reeva by the back of her copper-blonde hair. She squeaked slightly in pain and her face was contorted into a grimace. One glance at her was enough to make Ed snap.

"Don't touch her!" he yelled. He brought his clenched fist up and swung at his newfound enemy. His metal knuckles collided with the man's face, but he didn't move an inch.

Red crackles of alchemy sparked around his face while he narrowed his eyes at the blonde boy. Ed backed away while the man stood up. "I was hoping we could do this the easy way," he commented, his gaze fixating on the Ed. "But it seems that the pipsqueak wants a fight."

_Crap! What the hell is this guy!? _Ed thought as he backed away, eyes wide.

"Envy!" a woman's voice shouted from the backend of the alley. "That's enough. There's no need to make a scene. Now get back here! The Master wants to see us."

"Aw, come on Lust," the man, now known as Envy, protested. "It's been years!"

"Not important! You've already caused enough trouble. People are going to notice if you prolong this."

Growling, Envy turned towards the brothers. "Lucky little brat. Be grateful I can't kill you." Without another word, he left the brothers and Reeva on the sidewalk as he disappeared into the alley.

Ed's mind was barely able to process what had just happened. As soon as Envy was gone, he dropped down next to Reeva.

"Is she still alive!?" Al asked frantically.

The elder brother looked over her, trying to remember what to do. Knowledge of first aid was required in the military, but his mind was going in too many directions to figure out what he was supposed to do.

"I… I don't know," he said, not sure of anything. "Uh… Reeva? Can you hear me?" It seemed pointless, but he had to try anyway.

She shifted slightly when he said this. He felt relieved with the knowledge she was still alive.

"Don't move," he ordered. She seemed to understand this and she remained still, save her uneven breathing. Ed looked up at Al. "Go call for help. I'll stay here with her."

"Right," Al complied. He hurried off down the street to a pay phone that was a block down.

_This is crazy! What's with all this 'Original' shit, and why did that guy want her because of it!? _Ed thought as he looked back down to Reeva. There was a pool of blood starting to form underneath her head. A dreaded sense of uselessness and guilt came over him as he looked at her paling face. The feeling stayed long after an ambulance had arrived for her.

* * *

{Reeva}

Am I dead? I don't think so. I could hear a voice. Was it Ed, or Eric? I could hear the younger brother too. Max? Alphonse? Hm… They're the same, but different.

I miss them. I miss them all. I miss Kaya and Nellie. And I miss my mom. God… I really miss my mom.

I wonder if I can ever get home? I hope that they can eventually help me. They didn't say so, but I could talk them into it if I got the chance. I have to get home. I have people waiting for me to come back.

There's something… warm. What is that? It's soft too. And I can smell something. It's familiar. It smells… clean, like soap. I can't place it, but it's welcoming. It smells nice. It smells like home.

Huh? Wait… What's going on? The warmth is gone. Who took away my warmth? I'm not cold, but the familiar warmth and smell made me happy. Now it's gone and the questions are left to race through my mind. What happened? Where am I? What's going on? And why can't I feel anything anymore!?

* * *

I awoke to the sounds of birds chirping. My brows furrowed as I opened my eyes. I was in a bright room, with a window half open to let in fresh air. A cool breeze came in, chilling my exposed skin.

_Wait a sec… exposed?_ My head turned to the side to look at my bare right arm. There was an IV line dripping clear fluid into the soft spot on the other side of my elbow. I wasn't sure what to call it. Did that spot even have a name? Oh well, it's irrelevant. Point of it all was I was alone in a hospital room, and my arms were not as covered up as I'd have liked. As I turned to the other side I noticed that there were bandages on my left arm. Apparently something had happened to the place where I'd cut myself with the nail.

_Why am I in a hospital? _I thought. My eyes grew wide as my memory came back to me. _Oh yeah. I got wacked in the head. Damn. I had to have gotten a concussion, so why do I feel fine? That's just weird. _

My free arm lifted up to rest against my eyes. The moment I touched my face I figured out that it was there. A wide bandage was wrapped around my head, and it made me groan in annoyance.

_Dammit. How bad was it? It knocked me out, so it couldn't have been good. Life isn't a like a TV show or a movie. Getting knocked out by a blow to the head means serious damage. I could've died, but I feel fine!_

The click of a door opening caught my attention. To my right I noticed Alphonse was standing in the doorway. He was in the armor still.

"Uh, hi?" I tried, not sure of what to say.

"Welcome back," he said. "The doctor predicted you'd wake up soon, so I guess she was right."

I nodded as best I could with my head wrapped up. "Do you know what happened back then?" I asked. "I pretty much blacked out."

"You were hit from behind by some guy. He was hiding in an alley and hit you when he got the chance," Al explained.

My brows furrowed. "Why the hell would some guy jump me?"

"I don't know, but he…" The younger brother started to trail off.

"He what?" I asked, starting to sit up in the bed.

"He called you 'Original'," Ed said from behind his brother. His sudden appearance startled me and caused me to jump in the bed. My heart started racing from surprise as he walked in.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Dammit, don't sneak up on me like that!" I shouted across the room.

His gold eyes narrowed to stare me down. "Reeva, you were nearly killed because of this 'original' shit. Unless you want to stick around all on your own, you should start explaining."

My eyes grew wide. He was lying, right? He wouldn't just leave me like that…

_Idiot! He's not your friend! _The remembrance of this plain fact was like a dagger in my chest.

A lump had started to form in my throat. I swallowed it down as my hands became fists. "Close the door and I'll tell you," I said.

Ed did as I requested and I sat up. "There," he said, crossing his arms over one another. "Now explain."

_Calm down Reeves,_ I told myself. I closed my eyes and let out a deep breath. "Fine," I answered, meeting his gaze. "You know how I said that everyone who lives on this world also lives on mine as a double?"

"Yeah. So what?"

"I don't have a double." His eyes widened slightly at this. "I'm original because I'm the only version of me there'll ever be."

The two of them went silent as they let this sink in. I looked away and down at my lap. "Eleven years ago someone found out that I'm original and they sent me over to the other world. I don't know if it was to restore balance or what, but then I got those messages. They promised I could find out what happened and maybe I'd even find my real family. But what's gonna happen when the people that sent me across find out I've returned?"

"They might kill you," Al said. All eyes looked up at his metal helmet. "When you think about it, you've already brought on a lot of chaos. You've made relationships with people that were never supposed to know you. If they truly want to restore balance now, then you'd have to die to prevent further relationships."

Hearing him say it out loud made the simple fact worse. The tight feeling in my chest came back tenfold. I closed my eyes and brought my knees up to my chest. Yet again I longed for my PJ bottoms.

"So that's why you didn't want to say anything," Ed started. I looked back up at him as he went on. "You were afraid that if we got involved then we would get hurt as well."

I swallowed my discomfort and nodded. "I don't want to cause you guys any trouble."

He smirked at this. "You've been doing a hell of good job on that haven't you."

My eyes rolled at his comment. "Sarcasm. Just one of your many talents it seems."

Ed laughed. "Yup, and you're going to be stuck with it for a while."

I blinked at this statement before raising a brow. "Huh?"

"Turns out Hughes's conversation with the Colonel wasn't as innocent as he let us thought," he said, annoyance dripping from his words. "Because Al and I are involved, he thought it'd be a good idea to tell him about the situation."

My eyes grew wide. "I thought you said I could trust him!" I shouted, feelings of betrayal and anger mixing together.

His arms folded across his chest. "I thought so too."

I groaned in annoyance and held my face in my hands. _He's like Mr. Herman alright. The guy's nice and all, but _everything_ shows on his face. _

"Okay then," I started. "So what does all of this have to do with me getting stuck with your sarcasm?"

"Mustang thinks that you could be a valuable asset for the military. I don't know what the hell he's thinking, but he wants us to keep an eye on you."

After a few seconds I finally got what it was he was saying. "Are you telling me that I'm now under constant military surveillance?"

"That's about right."

A growl that was starting in the back of my throat turned into a pissed off moan. "You have got to be kidding me! I wanted to get my information and find a way home!"

"We'll still help you out with that," Al said. My anger dissipated when I heard his voice.

"Really?" I asked, the beginnings of a smile starting on my face.

"A deal is a deal," Ed commented. I looked back over at him. He pulled something out of the pocket of his red coat. My brows furrowed until I realized what it was.

"My phone!" I exclaimed. I held my hand out so he could give it to me. Instead his face contorted into a confused expression.

"This thing is a phone?" he questioned, turning it over in his hands.

I laughed at this. "Hahaha! Oh dear god. You poor deprived souls with your old fashioned, 20th century technology." I stretched my arm as far as I could to retrieve my property, but the IV snagged and pulled on the vein it was in. My teeth gritted and I held my arm to my chest. I moaned in pain while the brothers continued to examine my cell phone.

_Fuck! _I swore to myself. _I forgot how much I hate hospitals!_

I was still seething when the brothers gave up on my phone. "Whatever this thing is, I couldn't get it to work," Ed said. He tossed it towards the bed and it landed beside me. I picked it up with my left hand, the right refusing to move in case the line snagged again.

"It doesn't work when you're wearing gloves," I explained. His eyebrow rose at this statement. "The screen only responds when skin touches it." I pressed the lock button and the screen lit up. I touched square in the corner until my home wallpaper showed up, and held it up for them to see. Ed's brows furrowed and I assumed Al's expression was the same.

"Those two are Ed's and my doubles, right?" Al asked me. I nodded, knowing my home screen was a picture Nellie took of the guys and me. "The one on the left is Max, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah that's him. He's like a little brother to me."

"Heh, Eric really does look like Ed," he stated as I let him take the phone back.

"What?" Ed started to protest. "Let me see." He craned his neck to look at the screen of my phone and his eyes grew wide. "That… that's pretty creepy."

A smile touched my lips again. "Very creepy," I said as Al handed my phone back to me. I clicked the lock button to put it to sleep and set it on the table beside me. "So do either of you know when I'm gonna be getting out of here? Not that I don't love having a needle in my arm, but I'd like to move on."

Ed's gaze traveled to the IV in my arm and he shuddered slightly. "Better you then me."

My eyebrow rose while I smiled slyly at him. "What's the matter big guy? Afraid of needles are we?"

His eyes narrowed at me. "I'm not afraid! I just… don't like getting shots."

The smile went away and left a puzzled expression on my face. "I may not know what getting… what'd you call it? Automail?"

"Yeah."

"Automail then," I went on. "I don't what it's like getting automail, but I can tell that it can't have been a pleasant process. You were perfectly fine with getting metal limbs, but a little bitty needle is enough to give you shivers?"

He said nothing and turned away from me, leading me to assume I'd hit the nail on the head.

"Topic change!" I announced. They both resumed looking in my direction. "So when do I get to leave?"

"You seem fine, but a doctor will come back and check on you in a bit," Al answered. I looked up, wondering what he looked like behind the helmet, as he went on. "If she okays your leaving then that's that."

Ed spoke up again. "We can't do anymore searching even if she does okay it. Mustang wants to talk to the three of us once you get out."

I was drawing a blank on who it was he was talking about. "Mustang's your commanding officer, right?"

The pissed off look he took when I said this gave me my answer. "Yeah, unfortunately I'm stuck working with that bastard."

I opened my mouth to ask him about this Mustang character, but the door opened again, cutting me off. My brows furrowed in confusion until I noticed that a woman in a white coat was standing in the doorway.

"I'm going to have to ask you boys to leave," she said before turning towards me. "Well, you look as if nothing even happened, but I want to make sure you've healed up before releasing you."

I nodded and watched the boys go out the door.

"See ya in a bit Reeva," Al called as he left. Ed waved a hand in my direction as his farewell. The door closed and I was left alone with the doctor.

My gaze traveled upwards and met hers as she stepped over to the bed. "I didn't expect you to be a woman," I said as she sat down.

Her eye brow rose as she took my arm in her hands. "You assumed that my being a doctor meant I'd be a man?" she asked as she carefully pulled the IV out of my arm.

"…I guess," I said while she unwrapped the bandages on my head.

_Hmm… Were there woman doctors back in the 1900s? Damn it, I can't remember. Erg. Now I wish I'd paid more attention in class…_

"You healed up pretty fast," she said, surprise in her tone.

My brows furrowed. Healed? My head was bashed in and she's saying that I'm fine!?

…

Uh, okay?

_Just go with it, _I told myself with a sigh. _You feel fine, right? Maybe you did heal up. In any case we don't want to stay here any longer then we have to. Now let's go, I'm getting hungry._

I rolled my eyes. _Shut up stomach. We'll get Ed and Al to feed us when they get back… Why am I talking to myself?_

_It's the hunger talking. It's probably been _days _since you last ate. Of course you're hungry._

_There it is again! I'm driving myself insane! Whatever it is, just shut up already!_

I sighed as my mind quieted down.

"Everything okay? It doesn't hurt too bad does it?" the doctor lady asked.

"N-no, it doesn't hurt at all actually," I said. _Nothing to worry about here, other than my lack of sanity_.

"Okay." After a couple more seconds she leaned back in the chair. "Well, I think we're done here. The military has taken control of your release, so they'll need to be notified."

I had been so occupied with my own thoughts that I had no clue what she'd done to me. Come to think of it, did I actually want to know? After deciding the answer was no, I nodded my head in compliance.

She stood up and gave me a smile before leaving. The door opened and I could hear shouts, one of which sounded like Ed.

"Excuse me," she said. The shouting was silenced the second she opened her mouth. She closed the door and I was left with only my thoughts.

I looked at the bandages that were still on my arm. "If I hadn't cut you we'd still be back home," I growled.

A buzzing sound put me on alert. I looked around before noticing that my phone was sitting on the table beside me. I picked it up and hit the lock key. The screen flashed awake while a message alert popped forward on the home screen.

-It's always been known that you would one day return here, so stop regretting the actions you've made.-

"So you're back, huh," I mumbled. "How 'bout you explain who the hell it was that jumped me back there?"

The response came as fast as usual. -You will learn this on your own. Don't turn to me every time you need an explanation. I've told you that you are original and explained what that means. Now you must learn more on your own.-

A scowl crossed my face. "Go screw yourself you little bastard," I growled at my phone before turning it off and tucking it under my leg.

"For the last time, I'm not short!" a familiar voice screamed at me, causing me to cringe. I relaxed and looked up at Ed.

"I wasn't talking to you!" I shouted defensively. "I was yelling at my phone!"

His eyebrow rose. "You yell at inanimate objects?"

My brows furrowed. "Yeah, why? Haven't you ever felt the urge to scream at something that's pissing you off?"

"Well…" He seemed to think this over before shaking his head and answering quickly, "No. Why am I having this conversation?"

It didn't seem like he was asking for a response, but I gave him one anyway. "Cause you're stuck with me," I said, the left corner of my mouth turning up in a half smile.

Ed rolled his eyes at me and I laughed. I opened my mouth to speak, but another voice intruded into the conversation.

"So this is Reeva?" a male voice said.

My hand reached up to brush my hair back behind my ears as I turned to see who it was. My face paled when I saw yet another familiar face in a uniform.

"Oh what fresh hell is this?" I thought out loud. Ed snorted a laugh.

"Yeah this is her," Ed introduced before looking in my direction.

_Oh dear god. And I thought that the Kingsman/Armstrong double was crazy._

"Uh… Hi there?" I had no clue what to say, and knowing who he was on my side didn't help.

"Hello," the man said. "My name is Colonel Roy Mustang."

_That expressionless face… Those pit black eyes that stare into your soul… Oh god, why do you hate me!?_

The phone under my leg vibrated, as if it were giving me an answer. I ignored it and nodded. "Uh, yeah I know who you are. Ed's mentioned you before."

The Colonel nodded. "Do you know of the arrangement that's been made for you?"

"Ya mean the whole 'I'm under military surveillance until further notice' type thing?" I asked. I shrugged and said, "Yeah, I know of the _arrangement_."

"Good," he said. His creepy eyes continued to look in my direction as he went on. "Once you're released the Elrics will be keeping an eye on you." Mustang turned his gaze onto Ed. "Unless a task like this is too challenging for you Fullmetal."

The code name had returned and Ed was glaring back up at his commanding officer. "We've got this Colonel. She's just a girl. How much trouble can she cause?"

"Ah, cripes," I mumbled. "You shouldn't have said that dude."

* * *

I was released later that day. I wanted nothing more than to have the IV out of my arm and to have my hoodie back on.

My stomach growled loudly as the guys and I exited the building. I sighed.

"Y'all wouldn't know of a place to get hamburgers around here, would you?" I asked.

Ed gave me questioning look. "What the hell is a hamburger?"

I sobbed when he said this. "Agh! What good are you!? It's 1914, but hamburgers still haven't made their debut in Amestick yet!?"

"Amestris…" Alphonse corrected.

"Whatever," I said waving him off. My stomach growled again and I scowled. I quickened my pace to get in front of the two of them and pointed a finger in their direction. Ed gave me the look that told me he was afraid/confused.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I've decided that you guys need to be modernized. Screw digging through files today. It's not like I have anywhere to be really. Today we're going on an adventure."

"What kind of adventure?" Alphonse inquired.

"The tasty kind of adventure."

I put my hands on my hips and smiled smugly. _Hehe. __This is going to be fun._

* * *

**A/N: So how was it? Something of a cliffy, but not mind-numbingly painful. We carried on from the last chapter, we introduced Mustang (heheheheh, I've got an interesting plan for who is to Reeva. It'll either be kinda creepy or pretty funny, so y'all take your pick when that's finally revealed), and Reeva is about to bring hamburgers to Amestris. Should be fun ^_^**

**So if you'd be so kind as to review that'd be awesome. If you don't wanna review, no biggie. Note that constructive criticism is appreciated on the same level as compliments. Always looking to improve my writing. Other than that I'll get to writing ASAP and hopefully have another chapter up before Halloween. I've got some fic ideas for Halloween, so stick around and you'll hear more about than. Until we meet again, take care.**

**~Hopeless**


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